The beaver moon is November’s full moon. The next one is full on Tuesday 24 November 2026 at 2:53pm GMT.
What is the November full moon called?
The Beaver Moon. In the words of Royal Museums Greenwich: Some say it comes from Native Americans setting beaver traps during this month, while others say the name comes from the heavy activity of beavers building their winter dams.
Watching the beaver moon from the UK
November is the point where UK full moons are properly high again and the nights are long, which is the best combination of the year for looking at one. The weather is the only argument against it.
For our money November is the easiest full moon of the year to catch in Britain: high in the sky and up for the better part of fourteen hours. The cost is weather, and November is the cloudiest month in much of the country. When it does clear, the Moon passes nearly overhead and is bright enough to cast a sharp shadow.
How high the beaver moon climbs
From Greenwich on the night of 24 to 25 November 2026, 2 of 2026’s full moons climb higher than the beaver moon and 10 stay lower.
| Beaver Moon rises | 3:19pm, north-east |
|---|---|
| Beaver Moon at its highest | 12:06am, 65° up, due south |
| Beaver Moon sets | 9:05am, north-west |
| Time above the horizon | 18 hours for the Beaver Moon |
| Sun at 12:06am | 59° below the horizon |
Also in the November sky
The Leonid meteor shower peaks around 17 November, and the slow Taurid meteors run through October and November, now and then producing a bright fireball. The Pleiades are high in the east in the evening.
For November’s meteor dates and how much the Moon gets in the way, see UK meteor showers and the Moon.
What people get wrong about the beaver moon
That there is one settled origin. Royal Museums Greenwich gives two and picks neither, and other sources add more. This is normal for these names: they are folk tradition collected late and tidied up afterwards, so a site stating one origin flatly is usually being more confident than the evidence.
Beaver Moon dates, London time
- 2026: Tuesday 24 November 2026 at 2:53pm (GMT)
- 2027: Sunday 14 November 2027 at 3:26am (GMT)
The 2026 beaver moon time is from NASA and the Royal Observatory; 2027 is NASA only until the Observatory publishes.
In 2027 the beaver moon falls on Sunday 14 November 2027. Why named full moons drift.
The beaver moon in the sequence
In 2026 the beaver moon is the twelfth of 13 full moons. It comes after the Hunter's Moon (Monday 26 October 2026), and the Cold Moon follows it on Thursday 24 December 2026. On the nights either side of the beaver moon the Moon isn’t quite full: it’s a waxing, then a waning, gibbous, and the eight phases of the Moon explains both.
Any moon print can be checked the same way, beaver moon or not: how to tell an accurate moon phase print.
Written by Craig Fearn, Aphelion Prints. Last updated .
