Production at a Cornish tea plantation could be under threat of an invasion – by wild beavers.
The rare wild mammal was pictured by staff at Tregothnan Estate, which has been growing award-winning tea for the last 20 years.
Gardeners said they were "astonished" that the beavers, which were only recently re-introduced to the wild in Britain for the first time in 400 years, had decided to make the tea plantation their home.
And staff at the grounds near Truro say they are now concerned for the tea and rare plants grown on site – and raised fears that supply could be impacted.
The dam building creatures are understood to favour twigs and stems a few millimetres in diameter, the same as tea plants.
A spokesperson for the estate said: "The nearest beaver enclosure is over ten miles away and it is a mystery as to how the creature arrived here.
"Head gardener at Tregothnan, Neil Bennett, is concerned that tea and many other rare plants with the perfect stem diameter of a few inches are at high risk.
"Although the RSPB welcome the reintroduction of beavers to the UK, we don't yet know what the beavers' impact will be on many endangered species that we conserve.
"Some of these trees are extinct in the wild or part of a national collection and must not become a beaver snack."
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The spokesperson added: "Tea workers suspect the beaver will target mature tea bushes as potential dam building material.
"However, nowhere else in the world that grows tea is thought to be home to beavers and it is not known if the escaped beaver has targeted tea in particular or was taking advantage of the relatively warm waters that circulate through the tea gardens.
"It is remarkable that England's first wild beaver since the 16th century has chosen to set up home, not only in the deepest inland sea river in the country, but also the only productive tea garden."
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Tregothnan is believed to be the first place to grow ornamental Camellias outdoors in Britain over 200 years ago and is now the only place growing tea in Cornwall and England.
Tea was first developed commercially at the site in Cornwall from Camellia sinensis, the "Chinese tea plant", in 2001.
The first 'English tea' was then sold in November 2005 to Fortnum & Mason of Piccadilly.
It has since extended the range and captured the imagination of the tea-drinking public.
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