ohOn a winding country road in a secret location in East Devon, just metres from the side of the road, an inconspicuous pile of logs, twigs, sticks and leaves sits piled high above the fast-flowing River Otter.
Passersby would likely not notice this untidy mound, but a closer look reveals a highly deliberate construction of neatly cut branches overlapping in a distinctive pattern: this is a wild beaver dam.
“The animals that live in this river system have no idea how they got here,” says Steve Hussey of the Devon Wildlife Society, crouching on the riverbank. “They just show up, so they can't run away or… [been] I put it there on purpose.”
Beavers first appeared in the River Otter catchment in 2008. In 2015, Devon Wildlife Trust began trials to reintroduce the species, and in 2020 the government announced that Devon beavers could naturally live and spread to other river catchments. Conservation trusts estimate that the industrious rodents now live in 20 separate family territories along the River Otter and its tributaries.
In 2022, legislation in England made it illegal to deliberately take, injure, kill or disturb beavers, or damage or destroy their breeding or resting sites.
But for the past two years, the Wildlife Trusts, a coalition of conservation charities in England and Wales, have argued that the UK government has “repeatedly failed” to take the steps needed to allow for the species' widespread recovery.
They are calling for urgent action, including the issuance of permits to release beavers back into the wild in England and the publication of a strategy to enable their reintroduction. In Wales, there is currently no legislation to protect beavers or allow for their effective management.
In the UK, “beaver bombing” – the clandestine release of beavers into the countryside – has become more prevalent after successive governments failed to deliver on promises to allow planned releases. Research from the University of Exeter and others has established that beavers play a vital role in flood prevention, water filtering and enhancing wildlife habitat.
The changes are clearly visible around dams along the Otter River: rising water tables have led to the expansion of wetlands (reeds, marshes and deep pools) around beaver habitats, benefiting wildlife diversity and capturing carbon – a key natural defence against the climate emergency.
Hussey walks through the nettles to the site of another large dam, which curves across the river under a canopy of oaks, hazels and plane trees, scattered with corn leaves from a nearby farm. Fish leap from pools behind the dam barrier. Birdsong pierces the silence of the forest.
“We're so used to our environments being tidy,” Hussey said, “it seems a little more messy out here to a lot of people, but it's a patchwork of habitats.”
A study from the University of Exeter found that beaver-created wetlands collectively hold more than 24 million litres of water, roughly the equivalent of about 10 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
Using data from the Environment Agency's river gauging stations, the researchers found that beaver dams and their wetlands can significantly reduce storm water flows by an average of 30% during heavy rainfall periods, reducing flood risk to downstream communities.
On Thursday, the Wildlife Trusts released their “Vision,” essentially a call to action, highlighting how releasing beavers into the wild could provide a powerful natural restoration tool for struggling wetlands.
“The benefits of beavers are widely recognised and well documented, yet progress on reintroducing this keystone species across England and Wales has stalled,” said Rob Stoneman, director of landscape restoration at the Wildlife Trusts. “Given the climate and nature crises, we need to bring back wild beavers to help meet these challenges.”
He added: “Governments need to accept that beavers are here to stay and embrace the huge positives they bring, allowing society to benefit from them.”
Wildlife conservation groups are calling on the UK and Welsh governments to publish a beaver reintroduction strategy, provide funding for farmers and land managers to ensure water access on their land, support management groups, ensure wild beavers are allowed to remain in England and Wales, and recognise the beaver as a native species in Wales, giving it full legal protection.
A spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: “The government is committed to restoring and protecting nature and supports the reintroduction of species that have clear benefits for nature, people and the environment. We will continue to work with Natural England to develop our approach to beaver reintroduction in England.”
A Welsh Government spokesman said: “Following a review of the evidence by Natural Resources Wales, we are considering a range of proposals, including examining the most appropriate option for providing legal protection for the European beaver, as well as considering policy and management proposals.”
