Beavers, watermills and a visitor from Mali

Beavers in the Brecon Beacons? I think it's a brilliant idea! The National Park is considering plans to re-introduce beavers, which would encourage eco-tourism, and benefit the local economy - as well as being a rather wonderful thing to do in its own right. Beavers were common in Wales in the Middle Ages, and were finally hunted to extinction in the early nineteenth century.
Gerald of Wales, who knew everything about everything (or thought he did) mentioned beavers in his works, and how they were hunted for their testicles. Gerald repeats the story that a hunted beaver would bite off his own testicles in order to escape the hunters or, if they had already been removed, would lift his leg to show that they were gone, so the hunters wouldn't bother him again! Gerald does add that he has never seen this for himself!
They were also much in demand, of course, for their fur. Now the demand is for the impact they would have on the local environment, by building dams to create and maintain sustainable wetlands, thus creating living space for other species to move in with them. When talking about the possibility of local objections, Derek Gow, the Scottish expert on re-introducing species to the wild, said "Do we really need to worry about a floating, tubby hamster?"

Meanwhile, in Talgarth, they're thinking about another sort of re-introduction - the restoration of an old watermill which closed in 1943. It's right in the centre of the village, next to the Town Hall and opposite the Tower, which is medieval, and it would be wonderful to be able to stand on the little bridge over the Ennig there and see the mill wheel turning again. The plan is to use the wheel to generate hydro electricity, and to use the listed building as a museum.

And the Timbuktu twinning committee has not been resting on its laurels. Village chief Mohamed Alherag Almihdi has been visiting local schools here, to talk about the Malian way of life. Mohamed is also a conservator of medieval manuscripts, and works in Timbuktu during the week at the Ahmed Baba Centre, where they are trying to recreate the medieval university there.

(If the Brecon and Radnor Express had a website, I could link to the stories there, but these are too interesting to keep to ourselves in the local area, so I've posted the bare bones of the stories here.)