I saw a beaver this morning at the gate between the Entrance Section and the South Riverside Pasture. Dawn hadn’t long broken, but the sky was clear and blue, and the light was sharp enough to shine its spotlight on the marsh. The air was cold and carried that leafy scent of late November, when trees have given up the last of their colour and leaves to stand almost naked before winter. The cattle were still looking for comfort and following me around.

The beaver was on the South Pool weir wall, hunched and alert, a dark shape against the pale water. For a moment, it was alerted, still as a statue, before it turned its head and saw me. Its body tensed, a brief pause, and it sprang into action, running for the river with a surprising turn of speed. A clean slip into the water and it was gone, leaving only a widening V of ripples, and me frantically attempting to photograph it with my phone camera.

This beaver is the first I have seen on the South Marsh. Mike Averill caught sight of one here a few months ago, on the grim day when he found the dead horse lodged in the river. I had begun to wonder when I would see a beaver at South Pool. I suspected a beaver was around South Pool for the past few weeks. There have been telltale signs, and I heard something big making its way through the rushes around the otter holt.