A disabled Bridge of Earn pensioner fears beaver damage to mature trees in her garden is a threat to life.
Jackie Dickson, 76, plans to call in a tree surgeon to inspect the trees at the bottom of her garden, which have been gnawed by beavers.
She fears a falling tree could injure or even kill someone walking in the area.
“If they fall in one direction, they could come into my garden. Fortunately I don’t think they could quite reach my property.
“But if they go in the opposite direction, across the burn, they would land on a public footpath – a very well used public footpath.”
Jackie says a friend has now installed chicken wire around four of the biggest trees at the bottom of her garden.
She said otherwise the trees would have rapidly become dangerously unstable.
“I don’t think it would have been more than a few days before I lost the trees completely.”
Beavers now munching the smaller trees
Jackie says the large poplar trees in her Heughfield Road garden are around 30 years old.
And this is the first time beavers have done “such substantial damage”.
She is hopeful she can save most of the trees. However, she fears one may have to be felled for safety reasons and she has contacted a tree surgeon for advice.
Meanwhile, the beavers keep returning.
“There’s now chicken wire around my very biggest trees,” says Jackie.
“But my little friends have now turned their attention to my smaller trees.”
Jackie adds that she has “spent a fortune” in the past keeping the trees regularly pollarded.
“I begrudge having spent that money in the past if I’m now to lose them to beavers.”
Beaver boost to biodiversity
Last year, NatureScot unveiled Scotland’s Beaver Strategy.
It followed a Scottish Government policy decision to expand the country’s beaver population.
NatureScot champions beavers as ‘ecosystem engineers’. Beavers create wetland habitats which support a range of species.
But Jackie believes beaver damage could have a negative impact on biodiversity.
She regularly sees red squirrels in the trees in her garden.
“What about the biodiversity that the trees sustain?”
A spokesperson for Perth and Kinross Council said: “We respond to reports of trees on council ground that could cause a danger to the public and take appropriate action in line with our Tree and Woodlands Policy.
“All landowners are responsible for the trees within their private grounds.”
The spokesperson said the council did not actively manage beaver activity.
“Beavers are a legally protected species, and we suggest anyone with concerns to contact Nature Scot for advice.”
Conversation