This isn't just about the reintroduction of a species - it's about the reintroduction of an entire ecosystem that has been lost. Beavers are known as nature's engineers as they make changes to their habitats which create diverse wetlands for other species to thrive.

Beavers have been absent from Derbyshire for hundreds of years, having been hunted to extinction for their fur and glands (used for medicinal purposes). Re-introducing them is a time of great opportunity for enriching our lives and increasing wildlife diversity.

This interactive map has been put together to enable you to share our journey with the new Derbyshire beavers. You can:

• View our aerial photography series – you can see how the site changes over time, through the seasons and the impact of the beavers, once introduced. Use the Swipe and Compare functions in the ‘Maps and Aerial images’ menu, to compare images side-by-side and swipe images over the top of each other to see changes to the landscape. When the beavers are here, watch out for felled trees, dams, and new channels linking the lakes and Egginton brook.
• View our regular fixed-point photography of the site (taken in a variety of locations), so that you can also observe changes to the site from ground level
• Explore our data on all wildlife sightings - these can be viewed by clicking on any of the green squares. You can then view videos of species from the species list, and click on the pin to see all square where that species has been sighted
• Follow our progress through our Willington Diaries (short videos/vlogs of all our work so far) We will soon be adding a new option for you to explore our monitoring data.