A national conference highlighting the benefits of returning the native beaver to the UK will be held in Perthshire.
The Hilton Dunkeld will be the setting for the Necessary Beaver conference, which will bring together a host of speakers, including celebrated naturalist Sir John Lister-Kaye.
The conference aims to show the beaver’s role in biodiversity and wetland management, as well as the benefits it brings to flood prevention and ecotourism.
A spokeswoman for the Scottish Wild Beaver Group said: “This is a landmark year for the Scottish wild beaver as the Scottish Government will make its decision later this year on the reintroduction of this iconic species which was hunted to extinction some 400 years ago.
“Scotland is the first country in the UK to consider the reintroduction of the beaver and, after years of monitoring the effects of beavers both in the five-year Scottish Beaver Trial and wild beaver population established in Tayside there is a wealth of knowledge to be shared.”
She continued: “Recently, Natural England granted the Devon Wildlife Trust a five-year licence to study the wild beaver population based in the River Otter in Devon, and the Welsh Beaver Project hopes to carry out a similar project in Wales both will be presenting at the conference.”
The conference will also explore new ways to manage land and waterways to the benefit of both humans and wildlife.
Delegates will hear from ecologist Peter Smith, founder of the Wildwood Trust, and Dutch land steward Pieter Noordanus will talk on how beavers played a part in the Room for the River project in the Netherlands.
Other speakers will include Bob Smith, from the Scottish Wild Beaver Group, who will discuss the economic benefits that wild beavers have bought to east Perthshire in the form of ecotourism.
Experts have, however, warned of the impact of beaver dams on salmon.
Details of the conference on March 28 can be found here.