Beavers in the River Stour

Last Monday I took a trip on the River Stour In Kent, to look at wildlife, in particular to look for beavers. The trip was organised by Grove Ferry River Trips (contact details below), who provide the boat and the skipper plus a very well-informed ecologist who gave us lots of information about the wildlife in and around the river. Lest you should think that you have stumbled onto the wrong blog, I should say at this point that there is a textile connection: I am working on a series of four textile pieces – in collaboration with a quilter in Germany, who will also make four pieces – for a SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) exhibition due to take place in 2027. The eight pieces will form the pages of a book On the river trip, we learnt how important the beavers are for the management of the water. I was interested to learn more about the topic because I knew that Eurasian Beavers were re-introduced to England and Scotland as recently as 2025 and also that Kent was one of the places…