Beavers and their restoration

Beavers are known as ecosystem engineers for a reason. They can modify the environment to meet their needs. They coppice trees to feed on the inner bark, twigs and leaves, dam flows to create depth and wetlands, create canals for connectivity and build lodges where they rest.  

The present state of our rivers and streams are largely the result of hundreds of years of human intervention. The straightening, deepening and re-routing of river channels alongside many other activities have tamed our waterways to provide land for agriculture and development, or as is common in our region, power for past industries. These changes, however, have been costly for both nature and people. 

A beaver made or modified wetland and environment has a complexity now largely missing from many of our landscapes:

🦫 Damming forms slow-moving water able to connect to the flood-plain with their pools and channels used by other species, including our fastest-declining mammal, the water vole. 

🦫 Trees and vegetation are diversified in height and form. Taller trees cast shade for fish, whilst beaver coppicing allows light to filter in, increasing plant diversity and benefiting invertebrate species, which in turn supports other wildlife. 

🦫 Felled wood and standing deadwood add to this diverse range of features, providing a messiness often missing and adding niches which suits a host of unseen life and special species, such as our fastest-declining resident bird, the willow tit. 

Beavers can also bring amazing benefits to our communities through natural flood mitigation, water filtration and carbon sequestration. Beaver habitats can slow the flow of water running through them, holding water during drought and reducing downstream flooding, becoming collaborators in our fight against the effects of climate change and our increasingly unpredictable weather. Silt and debris build up in areas of slow or still water and behind dams, which research has shown can help filter water, improving its quality for both people and wildlife. 

🦫 The Eurasian beaver is native to Britain and was a regular feature in our waterways until the 16th century when they were hunted into extinction. 

🦫 The largest member of the rodent family, beavers can weigh up to 30kg and measure over 1m from head to tail. 

🦫 Beavers are herbivores with a diet which includes a wide range of plant species and the bark, twigs and leaves of trees. 

🦫 Beavers' dams are typically built from woody materials which they gather from trees they have felled and broken down into smaller branches. They build these to create pools where the water is deep enough for them to feel safe.   

🦫 Beavers live in burrows or lodges. Lodges are created from sticks and branches held together with mud and are found in the pools that form behind their dams. Some lodges even have a kind of chimney which helps to regulate the temperature inside the lodge. 

🦫 Beavers can hold their breath for up to 15 minutes! 

For over 20 years beavers have been slowly making Britain home again through a combination of releases and natural dispersal. Initial releases into enclosures allowed the Government, conservation organisations, landowners and other stakeholders to monitor the effect that beavers had on the landscape. This produced valuable data on their relationship and role in the British landscape. Since then, wild beaver restoration is now possible under licence from Natural England, allowing the species to live freely once again and their restorative activity be shared.

Find out more: Cheshire Wildlife Trust’s enclosure beaver reintroductions at Hatchmere 

Find out more: Devon Wildlife Trust’s wild beaver releases 

People and wild beavers are already living side by side in many parts of the Northern Hemisphere, and we can learn from the successful management strategies already in use. It is recognised that, in providing wetland restoration services and modifying their surroundings, beavers inevitably influence the water and land where they live. This can sometimes bring them into conflict with human activities and land uses, meaning that management may occasionally be required. Natural England has established a beaver management approach to help find solutions to issues that arise. 

Find out more about beaver ecology and management for landowners

Studies from Bavaria, Germany, show 95 per cent of issues associated with beaver activity arise within 20 metres of the water’s edge. Creating buffer strips by planting these areas with native riverside trees and shrubs, or allowing natural regeneration to occur, will not only reinstate missing riverside habitat, but increase bank resilience and limit the impacts of beaver foraging, burrowing and damming. Creating buffers along rivers can also establish habitat for other wildlife, capture farm run-off, and assist with natural flood management. 

Other mitigation measures can include: 

🦫 Tree protection 

🦫 Exclusion fencing 

🦫 Dam management 

Contact Natural England or your local beaver group or Wildlife Trust to discuss any beaver management before undertaking any work, as some activity might require a license.