Beaver-Works

Beavers have been extinct in the UK since the 1500s due to human exploitation for their meat and fur, as well as a substance called castoreum. The castoreum, secreted by glands near the anus, can be used in food, perfumes, and medicine, and is in high demand, especially in Sweden where it is used to flavour schnapps, a traditional distilled liquor.

The eradication of beavers has negatively impacted the British ecosystem due to their position as a keystone species – one of particular importance to maintaining a balanced ecosystem. As ecosystem engineers, beavers create wetland habitats for animals such as water voles, frogs and insects by using branches of trees they’ve felled to build a dam. Encouraging a home for small animals thus attracts larger predators, enhancing broader diversity in the area. Therefore, recent efforts have been made to reintroduce them throughout the UK supported by the RSPB, Forestry England and Scottish National Heritage.

The first European beavers were reintroduced in Scotland’s Knapdale forest in 2008. The benefits to biodiversity were clear, with an increase in dragonfly, minnow, and beetle species recorded in the 2015 ‘Beavers in Scotland’ report. This encouraged further reintroductions in Devon later in the same year, controlled by the River Otter Beaver Trial. Again, positive responses were recorded and in 2020, the government agreed that the beavers should stay.

Since then, there has been work on reintroducing beavers in Cropton Forest within the North York Moors. The main reason for beaver presence this time, however, was for flood prevention. The beaver’s dam building can alter the flow of rivers by creating pools and wetlands, significantly slowing the river’s flow and protecting humans living downstream from flooding.

Since 2019, the two beavers introduced in Yorkshire have had six kits and are now a family of eight, they certainly have been beavering away! After a trial of five years, the flood alleviating powers of the beavers will be studied and, if deemed successful, steps will be taken to reintroduce beavers in other high flood risk areas.