Beavers are set to make a comeback in Scotland - four centuries after they were last seen in Britain.

The government's wildlife adviser, Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), is calling for a pilot scheme to see how the animals would cope.

If this works well, Scotland could be home to as many as a thousand beavers within the next few years.

SNH carried out a public consultation to see what people in Scotland thought of the idea of reintroducing the species.

It found that 63% of the public were in favour, 12% against and 25% did not know.

Now SNH is recommending a small-scale pilot reintroduction - but it is yet to finalise where the beavers would live.

The Highlands, ideal beaver territory

It would be a carefully managed reintroduction. If things went wrong, it could be stopped and the colony removed.

Anglers are among those expressing concern. The president of the Scottish Anglers' National Federation said they were worried at the possible impact on migratory fish, especially sea trout and salmon.

Anglers fear the dams beavers build to keep their lodge entrances below the water level could make it harder for fish to travel upstream to their spawning grounds.

But conservationists say anglers' fears are unfounded and point out that the species concerned is the European beaver, which builds much smaller dams than its American relative.

Helping the environment

The World Wide Fund for Nature said the dams would slow the water down and trap dead vegetation.

Insects would breed there, attracting more fish, and the entire river environment would benefit.

The European beavers do not eat fish and they devour far fewer trees than their American cousins.

Beavers were hunted to extinction four centuries ago

Some conservationists believe they may in fact encourage tree growth by encouraging new shoots to appear.

Scotland's last beavers were killed in the 16th century, hunted down for their pelts.

The animals have been successfully reintroduced in several other European countries and in Norway they have become popular with tourists.

A European Union directive requires the UK Government to look at the possibility of bringing back endangered species which are extinct in Britain.