Beavers in England

Recently I posted an essay on the reintroduction of Beavers into Scotland. While trying to access the data learnt about the impacts upon the environment of this, I learnt that in England for the last two and half years there have been Beavers living here. While they have been fenced in, the sixteen European Beavers from Bavaria, so like our Royal family they are German, have been living happily and without damaging the environment. In fact the improvements the Beavers made to the habitat has provided homes and habitat for thirty other endangered species. This was all unexpected.

Any reintroduction programme always faces opposition from some groups, therefore this test site was used so that we could learn what the impact would be upon the environment and more importantly the biodiversity. Thus on a five hundred and fifty acre fenced in site, the beavers were released.

As beavers will do they adjusted the landscape to provide themselves with the pools and lodges they need to live. The first aspect of their natural behaviour that was noted was by cutting down the trees around the pools on the site, it regenerated the vegetation. Wild flower seeds in the seed bank spontaneously germinated. Some were plants that were thought lost to the site, and this had the additional effect of enabling invertebrates to come in and the population of water voles, a species in serious decline in the UK, started to increase. There were also unexpected benefits for fish as the Beaver lagoons created habitat that allowed fish to breed.

The aspect that really surprised everyone involved was that during flood events, the way that these mammals had managed the watercourse greatly slowed the flow of water helping to lessen the effects of the flooding.

While I dare say there will be people that are still not convinced by the wisdom of reintroducing these animals, all I have seen thus far is a genuine win win situation. I am hoping that I will be able to take up the invitation to go and visit the site myself and get my own view of an English Beaver.

Beavers return to Britain

As my regular readers (two cats and a human) will know, back in Autumn I spoke of a project that planed to reintroduce the European Beaver back into the UK. The greatest difficulty with any project like this is in fact education as people develop prejudice against some species.

With the beaver the prejudice centred upon the damage they would do to fish and to woodlands. As Beavers are vegetarian and eat tree bark they would not damage fish at all. In fact the calm pools the create for their lodges actually benefit most species of fish as they create habitats that enable the fish to breed more successfully.

The other prejudice was, is and will be more difficult to counter, as beavers do fell trees.

However, in the control areas where captive populations have been introduced, the activities of the Beavers has actually mirrored much of the tree felling work that has to be done to preserve riverside habitats anyway. As we live on a crowded island, the competition for space has meant that many of the natural processes have been interrupted. Further because of the loss of species, or exclusion of animals, humans have had to resort to carrying out maintenance work to retain the ecology that was there in the first place.

Therefore, by reintroducing Beavers, the trees that would overwhelm river banks get felled naturally. This will save the conservation organisations, farmers and land owners millions over the coming years as work normally undertaken by volunteers, contractors or workers will occur naturally.

A further benefit that was not expected was the discovery that the root systems of the trees felled by the Beavers worked much better as erosion protection. Because the Beavers are felling the trees younger, that would happen for conservation reasons, the micro root systems of the trees retained the soils of the river bank better. Additionally, the made the rivers less prone to adding to the damage caused by flooding. Partly because these root systems acted as a better sponge, but mainly because of the slower flow rates of the Beavers created habitat meant that in a flood swollen river, the water drained away better down the river channel and was less likely to over spill.

So while some people may still object to this reintroduction, the benefits will be imminence. As the species is being introduced into a landscape that has done without Beavers for several centuries, legal permission was required from the Government. This has now been given by the Scottish Parliament, and the reintroduction programme will occur in Scotland.

All the effort in the study of the possible effects of the Beavers on the environment was important as it was possible that the effect would have been like an invasive species that would have seriously impacted existing species and habitats. However, by ensuring that we knew what the likely impacts were and most of them are beneficial, we can all look forward to a time when Beavers will become a part of the British landscape again.

My thanks to Natural England for the picture by Paul Glendell

And here's a link to the Scottish Wildlife Trust and more information about the reintroduction project.

Beaver Reintroductions in the UK

Back in the autumn I talked about the possibility of Beavers being reintroduced into the British ecosystem. This triggered by the BBC showing images of beavers on the Autumn watch programme. Following that I started looking at the effects of reintroductions.

It is important to distinguish between introductions, a species that is not native but is introduced either deliberately or accidentally, and generally damages the environment and eco systems. Where as a reintroduction is a species that used to be a part of the ecology but has disappeared for some reason, and is reintroduced to rebalance habitat. Locally red Kites were reintroduced as an example, and are thriving. As I write, I can see a Red Kite to the north of my Village out of my window. The impact of them back in the environment is having a real benefit. As they are predominantly carrion feeders, the Kites are removing items that previously had been attracting rats and it seems that having the kites is helping to reduce the numbers of these vermin.

Therefore, reintroductions do create a positive impact for the environment. In the case of the Red Kite it has been an unexpected reduction in the numbers of rats, as well as providing a boost to the economy via tourism. For example there is one particular pub where it’s possible to sit in the beer garden and watch these magnificent birds.

However, it is the benefits to the eco system that is most amazing. In Yellowstone National Park in America, the reintroduction of the wolf aided the habitat, and in surprising ways. One of the effects was that Aspen trees and the willows started to regenerate. This was because the wolf is the top predator and the numbers were sufficient to affect the behaviour of the Elk who were browsing on the shoots of the trees. By the wolfs being their the Elk were keeping to the open and the hills where they could observe the wolfs. That was stopping the Elk from constantly nibbling off the shoots from the trees thus allowing the trees to regenerate. Further, this benefits animals like Beavers who rely on the willow for food. Additionally, the extra ground is benefiting a whole range of other species too.

It has always been known that the presence of top predators is a good indicator of a healthy habitat. But what is a new discovery here is that just how important they are to the health of the whole chain of life in a biosphere.

With the plan to reintroduce Beavers in Scotland there will be great benefits too. At the moment conservation organisations have to invest a lot of time and money in coppicing trees at the waters edge, this the beavers will do naturally for food and to build their homes. Further, in places like Germany where they have already been reintroduced the Beavers have seriously knocked back invasive species like Himalayan Balsam that is choking out native species of plant life. Therefore, I cannot see any disadvantages to this reintroduction programme.

In addition to this reintroduction, I also understand that on another Scottish Estate a breeding pair of Elk have been reintroduced as part of a long term plan that could see another colony of Beavers reintroduced along with Wolf and Lynx. While I personally feel that this would benefit the environment, I can see objections to this and careful preparation work would need to be done, especially education. So I watch and wait.

BBC Autumnwatch

As my reader in the UK will know on television at the moment the BBC are broadcasting again there Autumnwatch season. I should explain to my overseas reader that this is the second year of doing this although for the last five years they have been broadcasting a similar programme in the Spring, yes you guessed it; Springwatch.

While I know that some people feel they don’t like the presenters, they seem to want their natural history/nature programmes to be rather po-faced, I actually enjoy the style. One of the things I love about the fact that they are live, is that we never quite know what is going to happen or if the animals, the real stars of the show, are going to turn up.

This being on has brought me in from the cold where I have been out watching Badgers and other wildlife, and made me appreciate the warmth of a cat on my lap and a cup of hot soup.

However, it is two of the animals that they have shown that sparks my wish to write here. Firstly are the beavers. Every night they are showing live images of a colony of wild European Beavers that have been breed at a compound with the hope of reintroducing them to the UK. As we lost our Beavers about five hundred years ago, I can see the difficulty in reintroducing them. As we would have to educate people to accept them, and we would have to learn how to change the way we manage our rivers to meet their needs. But on balance I think I am in favour of them being reintroduced.

The second animal though is a bit more controversial, Wild Bore. For many years now there has been a small population of wild bore that have re-established themselves, often as escapes from farming of the wild bore. Again this is an animal that was hunted to extinction, about seven hundred years ago, so while it was native to the UK its accidental reintroduction could be problematic.

The greatest problem is its interactions with people and specifically with people with dogs. Dogs and wild pigs don’t get on, and with wild bore having tusks, I can see some dog owners demanding “something is done” especially if a dog gets injured or killed. Then there will be the farmers who suffer losses from the damage they will do to crops. However, the biggest danger will be when the population starts to rise. As wild Bore no longer have any predators, we killed the Wolf off here about one thousand years ago, and there are no natural controls on the population size.

Thus I cautiously welcome this happening as well. I know that locally, though fortunately not in Chopwell Wood, there is a female wild bore on the loose. I have spoken to reliable witnesses of this fact, but also there appears to be no male in the area. Therefore the population is not growing here. But as this makes my nocturnal wildlife watching potentially dangerous, I have mixed feelings about knowing she is out there. That makes my personal preference for dealing with the actuality of wild bore being present in the UK even more controversial. I think there should be a reintroduction of the European Wolf into the UK.

Now I know that would upset almost everyone, but it would help to control the numbers of Bore, Deer and other potential pest species in the UK.

I doubt that it will happen, but it would restore the balance in nature.