Beautiful Beavers! The Return of Britain’s Ecosystem Engineers
- Jane Orton
- Sep 22
- 6 min read
Updated: Sep 26
A once-lost native species, ecosystem engineer and Europe’s largest rodent, the beaver is back in Britain! Dr. Orton investigates…
This is part of our rewilding series, a comprehensive guide to some of Britain’s rarest species with links to academic literature. For a quicker, more accessible read, you can read our posts about the nocturnal animals that live in our woods or our baby tawny owls!
Beavers (also known by their scientific name castor fiber) went extinct in Britain around 400 years ago. This has been a big loss, because beavers are “environmental engineers,” creating wetland habitats that help all kinds of other wildlife.
About Beavers
Beavers live in freshwater habitats such as rivers and streams and are excellent swimmers. If the water isn’t deep enough for them (at least 70cm), they will build dams across the waterway. The world’s largest beaver dam is in Canada and is visible from space!
Beavers live in lodges (sometimes as tall as three metres!), either in burrows dug out of the riverbank that have been enlarged, or built freshly from woody debris, twigs and soil, sometimes in the middle of a beaver-built pond. These lodges usually have an underwater entrance tunnel.
The Wildlife Trusts says that beavers live in small family groups: an adult pair of adults and kits (baby beavers!) from that year and even from previous years. Beavers usually mate for life and will mate between December and April. Females give birth in early summer.
Beavers are herbivores and will create a food cache at their lodge entrance in autumn. They eat pond weeds, grasses, and leaves in summer and tree bark (usually willow, poplars and alder) in winter.
Beaver History
Over 10,000 years ago, beavers lived across most of Europe and northern Asia, but by the twelfth century, their range had been substantially reduced. One of the last Scottish records speaks of beavers near Loch Ness in the 1500s.
In 1188, Gerald of Wales possibly recorded the last evidence of beavers in Wales. Michael Drayton’s seventeenth-century poem Poly-Olbion seems to imply that there were no longer beavers in this area of Wales in 1612: “For Bevers Tivy was, in her strong banks that bred,Which else no other Brooke of Brittaine nourished.”
It’s likely that beavers were present in the river Tyne in Northumberland until the twelfth century, as confirmed by radio-carbon dating of a beaver-gnawed stick.
Having said all this, archaeologist Bryony Coles argues that beavers survived at least into the eighteenth century in Britain. Coles points out that there is a a record from the Yorkshire parish of Bolton Percy of a two pence bounty payment for a beaver head in 1789.
Beavers went extinct in Britain and elsewhere in Europe because they were hunted for their meat, fur and scent glands. Beaver scent glands produce castoreum, used in perfumes and medicine.
Reintroduction in Europe began in the 20th century. Sweden reintroduced beavers in the 1920s; followed by the Soviet Union in the 1930s. Other European countries followed suit in the post-war period.
In 2009, the Scottish Government launched the Scottish Beaver Trial in Knapdale on the West Coast of Scotland. In November 2021, beavers were translocated to the Argaty Beaver Project in Scotland.
It was also noticed that a population of beavers was present on the River Otter in Devon, which the government agreed could remain under monitoring. The River Otter Beaver Trial led to more beavers being legally released in the river’s catchment. In October 2022, England’s beavers were given protected status.
Benefits of Beavers
Beavers a keystone species, meaning that they play a critical role in their ecosystem and benefit other wildlife. Because they make dams, ponds and canals, they also provide habitat for water beetles, birds, bats, frogs, and fish.
Beaver dams also prevent soil erosion and flooding, reduce river pollution, help water flow during droughts and boost fish populations.
Beaver lodges provide habitat for hibernating grass snakes and mice and their creation of new wetland allows rare plants to recolonize. These habitats can provide homes for water voles, dragonflies, butterflies, salmon, trout, birds and bats. There’s evidence that complex beaver wetlands may benefit Britain’s fastest declining mammal, the water vole, by creating new habitat and providing refuge from predation.
Beavers also create canals in order to bring their sticks back into the lake. These canals increase flora and fauna diversity and mitigate habitat fragmentation. For example, areas like this are available for frogs to spawn.
Beavers felling trees stimulates growth (taking more carbon out the atmosphere). In addition, because beavers have a coppicing effect, this changes the level of light in the woodland, which increases the diversity of other trees.
Beaver Reintroduction
Beavers are being re-introduced in Great Britain! The first legal release was in Dorset, with two pairs of beavers joining the beaver family that arrived last year, either through illegal release or natural dispersal.
Beaver releases have to be done carefully. The Beaver Trust acknowledge that beaver dams might impede movement of migratory fish to and from their spawning grounds at critical times of year and are working out how beaver reintroduction can be managed so that it doesn’t negatively impact our fish populations. The UK government has issued guidance to manage beaver activity in England. They need at least two hectares of land, freshwater habitat and plenty of trees and shrubs.
Having said this, beaver reintroduction is likely to have a positive impact on fish as well as many other species. Some studies have shown that salmon grow faster and are in better condition in areas where there is beaver activity. The Wild Trout Trust has a nuanced discussion of the benefits of beavers dependent on time and place.
How to See Beavers in the UK
Spring and summer are good times to see beavers, particularly at dawn and disk, when you will have a chance of seeing them before darkness. You’re looking for a stocky, spaniel-sized rodent, with dense brown fur, webbed hind feet and a flat, broad tail. Because they have iron in their tooth enamel, their teeth are orange. They are crepuscular, meaning they are most active at dawn and dusk.
You’ll find them in freshwater habitats with woody vegetation. I visited Trentham Estate in Staffordshire and elsewhere in the Midlands, there have been beaver reintroductions in Willington in Derbyshire and Idle Valley in Nottinghamshire. There have also been calls for beaver reintroduction in Leicestershire, which could hopefully reduce flooding in the area. The Beaver Trust also lists the best places to see beavers in the UK.
Find Out More
If you’re interested in conservation and wildlife, we have a blog series on British wildlife and a series on the people and wildlife of South Asia, from the altitudes of the Himalayas to the dense mangrove forests of Bangladesh!
We also offer online private tuition in our interdisciplinary course, Culture and Conservation, in which you can explore the links between our natural and cultural heritage and study wildlife and cultures from across the world! This is a template of a possible study route and can be combined, adapted, or designed from scratch to suit your interests and goals.
Dr. Orton will work with you to design a course of private tutorials tailored to your needs, ability and schedule. Click the link to find out what it’s like to work with her and contact us to find out more!
Do More
For those who would like to take action to preserve our wild spaces, there’s plenty you can do. If you're lucky enough to have some land, you could plant a wood from scratch (click the link to read about how we are planting our own native woodland). Even if you don’t have a big garden, there are plenty of things you can do to help biodiversity in your area. Why not put up a solitary bee nesting box or insect home, create a woodpile as a habitat for small creatures or leave small areas of your garden to go wild?
Think about your own area and how you can protect vulnerable but important parts of your own environment. You might even want to start your own project investigating the cultural importance of wildlife in your area. Dr. Orton works with independent scholars undertaking their own research for an independent project, people writing a book or simply those who have a personal interest. Click the link to find out what it’s like to work with her and contact us to get started!
Reach Out
We’d love to see what you’re doing to help wildlife in your area. Follow the Conservation highlight reel on the Orton Academy Instagram to see what we’re getting up to and tag us in to any snaps you put up!
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