An ambitious project in the Dyfi Valley is hoping to reintroduce beavers, which were hunted to extinction in the Middle Ages.

The Scottish Beaver Trial introduced the first official beavers to Knapdale Forest 2009.

And the Welsh Beaver Project launched in 2005 and is currently putting together a proposal for Natural Resources Wales which will decide whether the reintroduction will go ahead.

The project team hopes to release 10 pairs of beavers, which will come from the Scottish Tayside catchment, over five years but Welsh Beaver Project officer Alicia Leow-Dyke said: “It will be done in a staged release. We will release two or three pairs at once and monitor them. It may be that we don’t release 10.”

The Dyfi River catchment was chosen as it’s small and easy to monitor, but with various habitats.

There will be a team on hand to help manage the Dyfi catchment, Alicia added. And if the beavers are not suited to the area, the project has developed an “exit strategy”.

The beavers will be microchipped and tagged.

While there is no guarantee they will be able to tag any young, the beavers will be closely monitored.

Some landowners and farmers have raised concerns about beavers destroying trees and hedgerows that act as a barrier against river erosion and increasing the flood risk.

Alicia said: “There will be changes to habitat but essentially we are not telling people what to do with their land and we’re not buying up land.”

The project team are encouraging landowners to contact them and discuss their concerns.

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