Beavers vow to rebuild after fire wrecks 'hotel'

A BEAVER group hopes to rebuild a 'bug hotel' built to help insects and minibeasts after it was destroyed in a suspected arson attack.

Young members of the 1st Yate Beaver group, aged between six and eight, built the hotel back in 2019 to help nature thrive in Brinsham Park, and named it the Brinsham Ritz.

Fire crews were called to the bug hotel near Coopers Lake on the afternoon of Easter Saturday, after locals spotted the blaze.

Avon Fire and Rescue investigators believe the fire was probably started on purpose.

Group Scout leader Claire Wiltshire said: “We are very sad to see what has happened to the bug hotel.

“Many of our young people in the group visited the site during lockdown with their families to see the project and we have taken our beavers over to visit regularly since it was built.

“Our young people enjoy being involved in community projects, we regularly litter pick and help with bulb planting.

“It's such a shame to see their hard work has been vandalised. We hope we can work with the local community to rebuild this soon.”

The bug hotel was built using money from South

Gloucestershire Council’s Member Awarded Funding.

It was designed by contractor Chris Belcher and filled with materials which would appeal to all kinds of bugs, including bricks, sticks, roofing materials, wellington boots filled with straw, drainage pipes stuffed with twigs, and rolls of roofing felt filled up with bits of leftover material and acorns.

News of the fire was shared on local Facebook group Spotted in Yate 2.0, where one member said: “We were only showing our daughter this Friday. She loved looking at all the bumble bees and webs.

"Such a shame some idiot has done this. People that do things like this are just a waste of space.”

Another fire was spotted in Lilliput Park, off Kennedy Way, later in the month, when a bench was destroyed after being set alight.

Police have asked anyone with information about either incident to contact them on 101 or report it on the avonandsomerset. police.uk website.