Beavers

The Scottish Beaver Trial is a partnership project between the Scottish Wildlife Trust, The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland and host partner Forestry Commission Scotland in Knapdale Forest, Argyll. This project was supported by a £1 million grant from Biffa Award as part of the Landfill Communities Fund. 

In May 2009, the Scottish Beaver Trial released the first beavers to live wild in Scotland in over 400 years. This marked the first ever formal reintroduction of a native mammal species in Britain and launched a groundbreaking five year study to explore how beavers can enhance and restore natural environments.

There is no enclosure and the trial area covers 44 square kilometres. The successful five year trial led to a decision by the Scottish Government in 2016 to allow beavers to remain in Scotland! In 2019 the Scottish Government announced legislation giving beavers legal protection, granting them Protected Species status. Current population estimates are at around 2,000. In 2022, the national Scottish Beaver Strategy was published, setting out how to help beavers become established throughout Scotland’s lochs, burns and rivers, and the many ways that both people and wildlife will benefit from their presence.

Keep up to date on this project at scottishbeavers.org.uk

Can I visit?

Yes! Signs of beaver activity including felled and regenerating trees, stripped branches and a beaver dam, can now all be spotted as part of a family friendly day out.  If you visit in the early morning or early evening, you may even see a beaver!  Plan your visit to Knapdale here.

In 2014, beavers were discovered living wild in east Devon. The origin of the population is unknown, though is presumably the result of an escape or unsanctioned deliberate release.

In July 2014, Defra announced its intention to catch and remove the wild beavers, rehoming them in captivity. Devon Wildlife Trust spent much of 2014 developing an alternative proposal: England's first ever wild beaver trial. 

Following enthusiastic support from the local community, Natural England granted Devon Wildlife Trust permission to begin a five year monitoring project - the River Otter Beaver Trial. The Trial oversaw the population, range and health of the beavers, and the effect they had on the local landscape and people.

Some of the key milestones are outcomes from this Trial are: 

• In June 2015, the first baby beavers to be born as part of England's first wild beaver trial were filmed on the river Otter.  
• In 2018, the beavers were recorded moving into new areas and creating dams and ditches to create wetland habitat which holds more water in the landscape, and filtering silt and agricultural chemicals out of water. Both reduce flooding downstream. 
• In 2020, Devon Wildlife Trust released the River Otter Beaver Trial report, which demonstrated that the reintroduction of beavers on the River Otter improved water quality, reduced flood risk downstream and benefitted other wildlife, such as otters and kingfishers.
• Devon Wildlife Trust were thrilled that in August 2020 the Government announced the pioneering decision to allow the beavers to stay in their wild home! Read more about this announcement here. 

Please support Devon’s beavers - more details here!

Can I visit?

Yes, there is good public access alongside the River Otter.  There is now evidence of beaver activity from Honiton to Budleigh Salterton, a distance of around 12 miles.

In March 2011, a pair of juvenile Eurasian beavers were released into a three hectare fenced enclosure on private land in northern Devon.  The objectives of the project were  to use beavers to restore an area of nationally important wet grassland and to understand the effects that this once-native species will have on this environment.

This project aims to study the effects that beavers have on these wetlands. This will help to inform future decisions about the potential reintroduction of this species into the wider countryside. The effects of the beavers are being monitored using water quality tests, flora and fauna surveys and fixed-point photography. 

The effects on the compound were astounding – the dense willow canopy had been opened up and the culm grassland beneath reawakened; a dynamic, diverse and bewitching tangle of habitats had been created by the beavers who had transformed what was a small trickle of water through the site into an amazing series of waterways.

The project continues to monitor the ecological effects the beavers are having on their environment – from changes in the vegetation composition to effects on the populations of amphibians, bats and breeding birds. Work with the University of Exeter found that the presence of beavers at this site had a profound impact on the ability of the land to hold water,  reduced the sediment load in the surface water and an increase in biodiversity had been recorded. View the latest Devon Beaver report here and find out more about the project here.

There are more than 20 beaver territories in the River Otter catchment. The latest arrivals in 2022 are five kits (young beavers) to one of the original females, known as Pink Tag.

Can I visit?

Sorry, access to the site is by invitation only for safety reasons and to minimise disturbance.

Willington Wetlands Nature Reserve is a key wildlife hub in Derbyshire - and Derbyshire Wildlife Trust brought beavers back to create a Wilder Willington!

Derbyshire Wildlife Trust introduced beavers to the site on 27th September 2021. Beavers manage wetlands for their own benefit, and have a large positive impact on the ecology of the whole site.  For example, beaver dams would slow the flow of Egginton Brook, diverting it onto the meadows of the reserve, in turn helping keep winter flood water away from the village of Willington.

in 2022, two kits (baby beavers), were been born in Derbyshire for the first time in 800 years thanks to successful beaver reintroduction programme. During the months running up to the kits sighting, staff and volunteers at Derbyshire Wildlife Trust observed the beavers settling down in a lodge (a beaver’s family home made from sticks and mud), grooming one another and caching extra food, which were all positive signs of them being a well-established pair.

Volunteers at the reserve managed to capture the new kits on film.

Take a peek at the footage!

Discover more about Willington Wetlands

Kent Wildlife Trust hosts a pioneering enclosed beaver reintroduction at Ham Fen.

This project began because of the challenges of restoring the last fenland in Kent using machinery. The conditions made it difficult to get machinery in and out of the site and the costs were very high. Then Kent Wildlife Trust came up with the idea of using beavers to help conserve the fen and began by releasing two families of Norwegian beavers in 2001.

The beavers are contained within the 30 hectare (just over 100 acres) site near Sandwich by 3.8 km of perimeter fencing. The project has been a great success and the ancient fenland and wet grassland with dykes and ditches are all thriving thanks to the beavers, which provide a more natural and sustainable way of maintaining wetland habitats and the diverse array of plants and animals they support. The effects have been so positive that the project's licence has been extended by Natural England.

At the last count there were ten beavers on site. They’re doing a fantastic job of managing this ancient landscape of waterways – fish and many other species such as water voles have benefitted - and have created a self-maintaining landscape requiring less intervention by man and heavy machinery. 
 

Can I visit?

Group visits are by appointment only, for safety reasons and to minimise disturbance.  Kent Wildlife Trust runs regular beaver walks and information on these is available on their website. 

The Welsh Beaver Project, led by Wildlife Trusts Wales (WTW), has been investigating the feasibility of bringing wild beavers back to Wales since 2005.

Feasibility studies have been undertaken in Wales and these studies have determined that there is abundant habitat within Wales suitable for beavers, and that a beaver reintroduction to Wales would be ecologically feasible.  

In the spring of 2021, the first part of a family group, father and son, arrived and were released in the enclosure at Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trusts, Cors Dyfi nature reserve. This was closely followed by the female beaver/mother.

However, the reintroduction of beavers does require funding and support! Find out more about the project, and please consider supporting by donating.

In June 2022 the first kit, (young beaver) was spotted, born to male Barti and his partner. Find out more.

Cornwall Wildlife Trust and local farmers Chris and Janet Jones from Woodland Valley Farm brought Eurasian beavers back to Cornwall in the summer of 2017. This ground-breaking project aims to show that beavers can help create new wildlife habitat, make our streams cleaner and crucially reduce flooding.

A 5-acre area of plantation woodland along Nankilly water, a stream at Woodland Valley Farm near Ladock, has been fenced to create a beaver enclosure. Two adult beavers, one male, one female, were released into a pond on-site and have been left to re-engineer the area through dam and canal building. The beavers were released in June 2017 and began dam building after just 2 nights.

Since beavers were reintroduced in 2017 they have built 8 woody leaky dams and created beaver-ponds and wetland areas, which has positive impact for biodiversity. The site is rich with wildlife, with monitoring efforts finding 11 species of foraging bats, 17 species of dragonfly & damselfly, and 3 species of mammals now recorded on site. Brown trout in pools have more than doubled in size too. The impacts of the beavers on water quantity and quality have been monitored by University of Exeter researchers, with research indicating increased surface water storage and reduced peak of water flow during high rainfalls.

For more information about the project take a look here.

Can I visit?

Weekly ‘beaver watches’ between spring and autumn are organised to engage people with wildlife and raise funds for the project. Get in touch with Cornwall Wildlife Trust to find out more!

Hatchmere’s precious wetlands are dying, but beavers can help save these special habitats! As part of a five-year 'nature-led' project, a pair of beavers were released into a 10-acre enclosure in November 2020, to save and restore the wetland ecosystem at Hatchmere Nature Reserve, in Delamere. 

Last summer, they were delighted to announce the arrival of three new kits! The summer prior, a pair of kits were discovered – the first to be born in Cheshire for over 400 years! The latest additions to the family mean there are now seven beavers living together at the reserve. Watch the latest footage of the beaver family, on Cheshire Wildlife Trust’s YouTube channel.

What's next?

Thanks to the incredible support they've had so far, Cheshire Wildlife Trust were able to build a beaver proof fence around the 10-acre enclosure and a pair of beavers were released safely into Hatchmere Nature Reserve. If you’d like to be part of this exciting project to bring beavers back to Cheshire, they need your help.  

This is a five-year project which hopes to see: 

• Hatchmere’s precious wetlands restored by beavers.   
• Cheshire Wildlife Trust need to look after the beavers and carefully monitor the effects that they have on Hatch Mere lake and the surrounding habitats. They will be working with local universities and beaver experts to help us with this work. 
• There will be regular checks on the enclosure and the health of the beavers. 
• They’ll be checking the quality of the water and monitoring other wildlife at Hatchmere including breeding birds, bats, aquatic invertebrates and the rare plants and mosses that make this site so special. 

• Cheshire Wildlife Trust will also be running regular events for members and donors so that they can share the work that beavers are doing on site.

For the latest news on the project and the impact the beavers are having, you can watch Cheshire Wildlife Trust’s YouTube channel.

Beavers were re-introduced to Dorset after 400 years on 8 February 2021 when Dorset Wildlife Trust released two beavers, an adult male and female, into an enclosed site in west Dorset. This landmark project forms part of a scientific study to monitor and record the impact the beavers have on water quality, flooding and other wildlife, working alongside lead partners University of Exeter and Wessex Water.

The pair settled well into their new home building dams and a lodge to modify the existing freshwater habitat to suit their needs. Monitoring of the enclosure provided unique, close-up video and photo footage of the charismatic creatures as they explored, made themselves at home and started to influence the landscape. Two litters of beaver kits have since been born at the site bringing the family total to seven animals which is an extremely positive sign that the beavers are continuing to thrive.

Beaver kits are born with the ability to swim and normally stay close to their parents as they are very vulnerable to predators when young. For the first 2-3 weeks, kits feed on their mother's breast milk but within six weeks, they will also be eating leaves, aquatic plants and tree bark of which there is plenty in their enclosure. Beavers are strict herbivores and do not eat fish. Animal welfare is an absolute priority so we have ensured that the four-hectare enclosed site offers enough complex habitat to support the newly expanded beaver family.

Support the project

In 2020, Cumbria Wildlife Trust, as part of the Cumbria Beaver Group, released two beavers to an enclosure at the Lowther Estate in the Lake District. 

The aim of this group is to facilitate the well planned and managed reintroduction of beavers to Cumbria. The group is working with local communities and stakeholders to inspire people about beavers, and increase understanding about this native species. 

Learn more

Sussex Wildlife Trust is the lead partner is the Sussex Beaver Trial, and along with their partners had a licence approved by Defra to introduce

• two pairs of beavers into a 250 ha fenced area of the Knepp estate and
• at least two other pairs on National Trust land on the edge of the South Downs

Beavers are important in restoring wetlands. At least 80% of the UK’s natural wetlands have been damaged or destroyed in the past, and in Sussex it is probably closer to 95%. Wetlands are some of the most biodiverse areas on the planet, and are fantastic carbon sinks, helping to buffer us against climate change. 

The intention of the Sussex Beaver Trial is not to sustain long-term a population of captive beavers, but to investigate the potential for beavers to be slowly reintegrated into landscapes at a catchment scale. The project will work closely with landowners, community groups, schools and others to inform them about the impact of beavers on a landscape.

Learn more

At Spains Hall Estate at Braintree, Essex Wildlife Trust is working with the landowners and other partners on a Natural Flood Management Project for the land above Finchingfield.

In 2019 a pair of beavers were introduced to a 4-hectare woodland enclosure as part of this work, and in 2020 it was announced that two healthy kits had been born!

Beavers in the Finchingfield enclosure at the Spain’s Hall Estate have now given birth to a third set of ‘kits’ or young beavers, there are now eight beavers on the Estate. Two Eurasian beavers were released in March 2019, in what is an award-winning conservation project.

Find out more

Reintroducing beavers back into Nottinghamshire after a 400-year absence will unlock the power of nature. Beavers are nature's finest 'wetland engineers'. As they dig, chew through trees and create deep pools, they help create habitats that benefit other wildlife. Thanks to your support, we are bringing them back to Nottinghamshire, at Idle Valley Nature Reserve near Retford.

Read more

Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust are carrying out a study into the feasibility of reintroducing free-living beaver in suitable regional waterbodies. As many areas in Gloucestershire are highly flood-prone, the restoration of beavers could measurably reduce the impacts to land and property from flooding, as well as restoring lost wetlands and making ecosystems more resilient.

A successful reintroduction could not happen without support from local communities, and the Trust has begun engaging with key stakeholders to understand their perceptions around the prospect of living alongside beavers. The feasibility study is assessing biological and ecological factors as well as the social, building a broad evidence base of opportunities and risks, with the aim of bringing back beavers to suitable catchments in the coming years.

Learn More 

Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust is hoping to support the nationwide recovery of beavers starting with a wild release to the Eastern Yar river on the Isle of Wight. In 2020 the Trust commissioned a study by leading experts on the feasibility of bringing beavers to the Island, with a particular focus on the Trust’s Newchurch Moors Nature Reserve which found the Eastern Yar catchment, in particular, to be “highly suitable for beaver release and long-term occupation.”

The Trust has a strong track record of working to bring back missing species across both counties, and have seen otter, water vole and marsh fritillary return to their former haunts. We have also seen other species, such as the white clawed crayfish and sword-leave helleborine, bounce back from the brink of local extinction.

The release of wild beavers will help to put nature back in charge of its own recovery, helping to address the impacts of climate change, both during times of drought and during periods of flooding.

Learn more

Aftter 400 years, beavers are back in Avon! Avon Wildlife Trust are working with Bristol Avon and Somerset Frome Beaver Management Group. This group was established in February 2021 to oversee the Bristol Avon and Somerset Frome Beaver Management Strategy.

Avon’s wild beavers have set up home within the region's waterways, where a new family has arrived.

Learn more

Shropshire Wildlife Trust has identified a 12-hectare site in central Shrewsbury where a pair of beavers will be released in an enclosure shortly. 

The beavers will be replacing grazing cattle to prevent trees and scrub from invading the wetland. Housing estates and a school surround the site, so there will be plenty of opportunities for local people to be involved - watch this space!

This is a project proposal by Shropshire, Herefordshire, Montgomeryshire and Radnorshire Wildlife Trusts, which has beavers as one of its key species. 

Northumberland Wildlife Trust is in the very early stages of a feasibility study.  They are working with several landowners and other stakeholders to develop opportunities to bring back beavers as a natural solution to climate change mitigation and adaptation and biodiversity loss.

The Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire & Northamptonshire have been granted permission (under licence from Natural England) to release a family group at Nene Wetlands nature reserve and will be monitoring them closely as they help restore this wetland habitat.

Over time the beavers are expected to reduce scrub growth and manage willows on the site which in turn will increase the area of reedbed in the lake. The pair will be sourced via Beaver Trust, and are due to arrive in autumn 2024.

Learn more

Reintroductions and translocations of Eurasian beaver have now taken place in more than 25 European countries. They began in the 1920s in Sweden, Norway, Latvia, Russia and the Ukraine and continued throughout the 1980s and 1990s in the Netherlands, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia.

Reintroductions usually involve the release of animals over a number of years to several sites. Most have been successful in terms of breeding, population growth and range expansion.

More than 150 translocations have now been undertaken across Europe, most without the detailed monitoring carried out by the Scottish Beaver Trial and other British projects, but some have been thoroughly studied, enabling scientists to predict with confidence the likely pattern of events post reintroduction. Experts and volunteers across Europe are able to manage problems that sometimes occur, for example in areas of arable production.

A study on the economic impacts of the beaver by the University of Oxford's Wildlife Conservation Research Unit concluded that "with forethought, prior consultation and planning, a beaver reintroduction should bring significant monetary benefits within the local economy and communities that could greatly outweigh any potential negative impacts.”

Research into the impact of beavers on the local economy around Knapdale Forest was carried out as part of the Scottish Beaver Trial and its results are currently being assessed by the Scottish Government. Local businesses reported an upturn in business due to interest in the Trial increasing visitor numbers to the area. There is also anecdotal evidence of an increase in beaver tourists to the River Otter in Devon.

Beavers can modify the habitats and landscapes they live in through coppicing, feeding and in some cases damming (beavers living on lakes or rivers have little need of constructing dams). However in many cases when they are living at low density, their impacts can be remarkably subtle and go unnoticed for many years.

Beavers forage close to water with activity usually concentrated within 20 metres of the water’s edge. Beavers do fell broad-leafed trees and bushes to reach upper branches, encourage regrowth, to eat the bark during the winter and to construct their lodges. Many tree species regenerate, which diversifies the surrounding habitat structure and create areas of mixed-height, mixed-age vegetation. Coppicing has been practiced by foresters throughout history as a method to manage bankside trees. The actions of beavers are very similar, meaning woodlands and trees are more naturally managed.

Evidence from Europe shows that shows that beaver impacts are, in the vast majority of cases, small-scale and localised. Beavers are not normally regarded as pests in Europe and where localised problems have occurred, there are a number of well-established mitigation methods that can be adopted. These include the removal of dams, the introduction of overflow piping, or the installation of fencing (as one does for deer and rabbits). In some cases, the removal and translocation of beavers could be considered. Some countries with sustainable beaver populations permit seasonal hunting and/or lethal control as legitimate management strategies.

By creating dams and associated wetlands in headwater streams, beavers store floodwater in upper catchments, moderating water flows. This reduces the height of flood peaks and also ameliorates low flows during dry periods as the leaking dams recharge streams with fresh constant flows. For those landowners impacted, these dams clearly cause localised “flooding” or raised water levels in wetland habitats. The size of these ponds and wetlands can be restricted by the use of flow devices where pipes set the maximum height of the dam, and thus the area of land flooded.

Beavers rarely build dams in main rivers downstream where there is sufficient depth of water, and so many of the concerns about flooding are not real. However in low lying floodplains where agricultural activities depend on land drains and deep ditches, beaver dams can have more significant impacts. They can obstruct culverts and “restore wetlands” in places that are not compatible with the existing land-uses and therefore create real, and perceived conflicts. In some cases mitigation measures will not be successful, and beavers may need to be moved on.

Evidence from elsewhere in Europe shows that instances of beaver dams creating undesirable flooding are uncommon, localised and usually small-scale. In these situations dams are simply removed or pipes (‘beaver deceivers’) are placed through them to manage water levels.

Beavers are herbivorous, so do not eat fish. Habitat modification by beavers, however, can have significant impacts on fish populations in some circumstances, and fisheries groups are often concerned about the potential impact of beaver dams on the movement of migratory fish.

The interaction between beaver activity and freshwater fisheries has been the subject of several reviews. Based on the combined results of an independent and systematic review of the literature and survey of expert opinion, Kemp et al. (2012) concluded that:

• Benefits (184) were cited more frequently than costs (119)
   
• Impacts were spatially and temporally variable and differed with species.
   
• The most frequently cited benefits of beaver dams were increased habitat heterogeneity, rearing and overwintering habitat; flow refuge; and invertebrate production.
   
• The most frequently cited negative impacts were impeded fish movement because of dams; siltation of spawning gravels (particularly for salmonids); and low oxygen levels in ponds.
   
• The majority of 49 North American and European experts (more than 60% of whom described themselves as fisheries scientists or managers) considered beavers to have an overall positive impact on fish populations, through their influence on abundance and productivity.