Beavers are Back!

Following a 400 year absence, Beavers are back in the wild in Devon. We talked to Mark Elliott, lead for the Devon Beaver Project at Devon Wildlife Trust, about the landmark River Otter Beaver Trial run by the Trust and its partners.

A multimedia story by Rupert Bedford

Published on 22nd August 2022.

The 6th August 2020 will go down in UK nature conservation history as a very significant day. It is the day that the UK Government announced that the Eurasian Beavers living wild on the River Otter in Devon would be permitted to remain permanently, and to expand their population into neighbouring catchments. 

The decision followed the successful completion of the five-year River Otter Beaver Trial by Devon Wildlife Trust (DWT) and its partners.

Mark Elliott is genuinely enthused by the success of the trial and the opportunities going forward. “This is the first re-introduction of a native mammal back into the English landscape, and this is a species that we haven’t had in this landscape for four or five hundred years. We’ve forgotten just how significant this animal is in terms of breathing life, you know, real energy back into these watercourses.”

The River Otter Beaver Trial

The River Otter Beaver Trial started in 2015 and came about as a result of beavers living wild on the river already. It was not clear exactly where they had come from — they had either escaped or been released deliberately into the watercourse. Back in 2014, they were shown to be breeding and the government was planning to round them up and remove them. The local community, including DWT, got involved in a campaign to try and have those beavers left alone.

DWT proposed a trial to see what the impacts of beavers would be in a real world, agricultural landscape. And it was subsequently granted that license in 2015 to run a five-year trial to study the impacts of the beavers on this river system and the people in the communities that live in the catchment. And that’s essentially how it all started back in 2015. The trial then ran for five years and came to a conclusion in, in 2020. And at that point, the government made the decision, based on the evidence presented by DWT and it partners, that the beavers could remain in the wild.

The Beavers are thriving

As Mark explains, one of the concerns at the beginning of the project was that the beavers could become inbred. “You know, we had a very small founder population here and the license allowed us to introduce an additional five animals into the catchment over the course of the trial so that we could bring some new genetic material in. And that’s exactly what happened. So we’ve brought animals into various parts of the catchment over the course of the project. And they’ve thrived. They’ve done really well. They’re actively breeding here. They’ve moved into the watercourse and have been manipulating the river and all sorts of ways. It’s been a really interesting site to watch over the, over the course of the five years now that they’ve been here.”

Engaging with landowners

Mark emphasises the importance of active engagement with landowners and others directly impacted by the reintroduction of the beavers. “I think one of the reasons why the landowners have generally been so accepting of the beavers is the time that we’ve allocated to that side of it. You know, we’ve now got a dedicated field officer who’s out all the time, really working with people that have got beavers, turning up on their land, answering any questions, explaining what the beavers are doing, and helping to alleviate any problems that are occurring. So I think it’s that time that’s been dedicated to that side of the project that’s made it so successful.”

Jake Chant is DWT Field Officer for the Beaver project, “It’s been really important to have somebody on the ground able to respond quickly to landowners and property owners concerns about beavers. So my first thing to do is to make sure that landowners farmers, property owners are educated about what beavers do and don’t do. And sometimes that’s some myth-busting. So we don’t need to worry about them eating fish for example. But it is the reality on the ground that beavers can build dams in frustrating places, and I can help demonstrate how they can get around that. So it’s my job to manage the impact of beavers as and when it’s necessary to do so. And from Devin Wildlife Trust’s point of view — an organization that is focused on conservation and bringing old species back is really exciting — but we’ve got to be pragmatic. We’ve got to understand that this landscape is dominated by humans use of it. And that sometimes we’re going to have to ‘shoe horn’ beavers back into areas.

Revitalising Rivers and Watercourses

“Beavers are a Keystone species”, Mark explains, “Basically what that means is that they’re bringing dynamism back into the water course and the engineering that they’re doing is benefiting a whole range of other species. So, for example, on headwater streams, what they’re doing is they’re building dams. Sometimes the dams aren’t permanent features, they come and go, but in doing so, they’re bringing that dynamism back into the water course, that’s been lost. You know, so many of our streams have been dredged and straightened and deepened. And what beavers do is they raise the bed levels. They recreate meanders, and those meanders are then used by kingfishers and the fish are coming back into the pools that they’re creating. We’ve got spawning gravels for trout in the areas that are being created as the dams wash out. We’ve tamed all our rivers and streams and beavers are really helping to restore some of the species that we’ve lost as a result of that manipulation that we’ve done as humans over the years.”

Beavers and Fish

Some fishermen have raised concerns that that beaver dams impede the movement of migrating fish, particularly things salmon and sea trout. Mark explains that the position is more nuanced, “what we’re seeing on the river is that most of the dams are really built up in the headwaters. So they’re built up in the smaller streams, in the ditches, probably above where most of the salmon are migrating, probably in the areas where sea trout are coming up into. So in low flows, you would see that some of these dams may well prevent sea trout getting up into the higher reaches. But once the flows start to come down in the autumn, the fish are often able to migrate over the top of the dam. So we see them actually jumping some of these dams. 

But also the dams get washed out. You know, they’re not permanent features. They get washed out in the autumn rains and that allows the fish to then get past them, up into the very smaller streams and in doing so, they’re providing the spawning habitat. So as these dams wash out, you get these new gravel beds forming, and that’s exactly where the trout are spawning. 

So it’s a really complicated relationship, the one between beavers and fish and beavers have been living alongside these fish species for thousands and thousands of years, quite happily. And as long as these watercourses are provided with space, you know, we’re giving the the river the space to breathe and the space to be manipulated by the beavers. Then, you know, I do think that the beavers are going to benefit these fish populations, that are in real trouble in some parts.”

The future

So what next. The government has to decide whether beavers can be re-introduced into other parts of the country. Projects are being proposed all over the country. There are lots of enclosures where people beavers are having to live within fences and the government is currently consulting on whether the beavers are going to be reintroduced into lots of other rivers around the country, including what sort of legal protection they'll give them and also what sort of financial support they're going to provide for landowners that are being impacted.

Mark Elliott is hopeful for the future. “There's a huge enthusiasm for beavers and the communities certainly here on the River Otter have really welcomed them and adapted really well to having them and benefited from them in all sorts of ways financially, culturally and socially. So there's been a massive benefit to them being here. And I think the government are recognizing that, and they're seeing the benefits that the beavers are providing. And I do think that, you know, the decisions are going to be made that that will allow this species to return to all of our rivers over time”.

Rupert Bedford is a UK based journalist and documentary maker specialising in conservation, environment and social justice.

All images and footage © RB Media.

If you would like to feature this story on your website or publication please contact Rupert at rupert.bedford@rbmedia.org for terms.