Two beavers released into the wild on the National Trust's Holnicote Estate in Exmoor, Somerset, have been filmed grooming each other, a sign conservationists say is encouraging for efforts to restore the species in England. The behaviour suggests the pair have found suitable conditions to establish a shared territory, which could eventually lead them to form a family group and help strengthen the wider beaver population on the estate.

The beavers were released in February 2026 as part of the National Trust's work to restore rivers, wetlands and floodplains across the 5,000-hectare site, and were among the first groups let loose freely in Somerset following the government's 2025 approval of wild beaver reintroduction in England. Rangers are using trail cameras to monitor the nocturnal animals as they settle in, since beavers typically live in pairs that mate for life and whose dams and canals can create habitats for other wildlife. Beavers had previously been reintroduced at Holnicote but only within enclosures, and the species had been extinct in the UK since the 16th century after being hunted for fur, meat and scent glands.