There are hundreds of beavers living wild in Kent

A striking story from the BBC News Kent pages:

Residents and visitors to Canterbury have been treated to the unusual sight of baby beavers swimming in the River Stour.

The babies, called kits, are thought to be the first to be born in a wild urban setting in England for centuries.

The semi-aquatic rodents are known as a keystone species because of the enormous impact they have on the wildlife around them.

Sandra King, chief executive officer of the Beaver Trust, said: "It's so exciting to see them here."

Even more striking, though, is a story from May that this report links to:

A new survey suggests the number of wild beavers now living in Kent runs into the hundreds.

The animals, which were extinct in the UK for centuries, can even be spotted in the centre of Canterbury.

There have been increasing reports of beaver signs along the River Stour in East Kent and the data indicates that an established beaver population has been present for more than 10 years.

One of the report’s authors said Kent hosted the biggest population of beavers in England.

I had no idea that beavers had returned on anything like this scale. But then I think of the words of Isabella Tree in the trailer for the film rewilding:

"As soon as the conditions are right, these species will find you somehow."

That's why I am prepared to entertain the idea that there are big cats living wild in the English countryside. We have a vacancy for an apex predator and a plentiful supply of deer, which is the sort of species these cats have evolved to predate.