I first saw a beaver in the wild on a 6^th Form school trip to Germany (my Mum was the German teacher so I tagged along!) in 2003. We visited a school in East Germany that we had previously had reciprocal visits with though the Socrates Comenius programme. The school, in a small town called Fehrbellin, was surrounded by storks nests. Peter, the biology teacher, took us down to his cabin on the nature reserve that was attached to the school. Within the cabin was a mad mixture of taxidermy and I vividly remember a road kill otter that had been stuffed to resemble the Loch Ness monster – the stuff of nightmares! Peter took us out on the water in kayaks, and as we paddled, he called out ‘Ich haber einen Biber gesehen!’ (I’ve seen a beaver!). The beaver calmly swam past the six of us and silently disappeared into the banks. I knew then that it was a special wildlife sighting, but it’s only as I’ve learned more about the species and their history, that I’ve realised just how special. To date this remains the sum total of German language I can speak (sorry Mum!), but it stayed with me.

The beaver is the second largest rodent in the world, after the South American capybara. They can weigh up to 30kg.  They can be mistaken for coypu, muskrat and even water voles. Beavers used to be widespread in Europe and northern Asia, but by the twelfth century their range was much reduced, and by the sixteenth century, they were almost extinct. Beavers were hunted for their fur, meat and scent glands. Castoreum, a natural secretion from the scent glands, was used in perfumes and medicine.

The most recent physical evidence of beaver in England actually comes from Northumberland, where a beaver gnawed stick found in the Scaup Burn, Kielder Forest has been radio carbon dated to be from between 1269 and 1396, with other surrounding evidence suggesting that the stick is from the later range of those dates. This location was incorporated into our National Lottery Heritage Fund supported Kielderhead Wildwood project, delivered in partnership with Forestry England. A special part of the county in lots of ways!

By the early 20^th Century, there were only eight populations of Eurasian beaver left, with a total of 1200 animals. Sweden was the first country to reintroduce the beaver, back in the 1920s, and there are now 28 European countries that have carried out reintroductions, with the European population now estimated to be 1.5 million individuals.

Highly adapted to aquatic life, they are dependent on rivers. Beavers have two layers of dense fur to keep them warm and waterproof. They have webbed feet, a third clear eyelid which allows them to see underwater and they have the ability to hold their breath for up to 15 minutes. Their famous flat tail acts as a rudder when they swim. Like other rodents, their teeth grow continuously, an important adaptation that allows them to gnaw trees. They have a second set of lips between their incisors and molars, which they can close while swimming, allowing them to carry material without swallowing lots of water. Unusually for rodents, they are monogamous, and live in family groups, defending a territory. They live in burrows and lodges, and they may have several different ones within their territory.

Although they are entirely vegetarian, eating a wide variety of plant material, there is a widespread misconception that beavers eat fish. This perhaps stems from C.S Lewis’ ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’, where Mr and Mrs Beaver prepare a meal of trout for the Pevensie children in their lodge.

Beavers have made their way into our everyday language too. Perhaps you’ve been ‘a busy beaver’, or been ‘beavering away’ on your latest project…

These terms stem from the industrious nature of the animal, building dams and lodges with tree branches they have felled for the purpose.

Because of their impacts, you will often hear the beaver referred to as an ‘ecosystem engineer’, a species that modify their environment in a significant manner, creating new habitats or modifying existing ones to suit their needs. They are also referred to as a keystone species: an organism that has a disproportionately large impact on its environment relative to its abundance.

Beavers will browse on a wide range of plant material including bark, shoots, leaves and roots. They will fell trees both for food and for building materials. Preferred species include willow, birch, alder, aspen, ash, poplar and hazel. Many native tree species are adapted to respond to beaver activity by coppicing, which over time can extend the lifespan of the tree and stabilise river banks. It can also open up the canopy, allowing light through to the ground and creating a more diverse woodland flora and fauna.

Most people know that beaver activity can create wetland habitats as they dam streams and modify watercourses. Dams provide a range of benefits for both people and wildlife. Complex wetlands host a diverse range of plants and invertebrates, which in turn provide food and shelter for a wide range of other species like ambhipians, birds, bats and mammals. By slowing the flow of the water and creating leaky structures, river catchments are more resilient during periods of drought as water is held back. During times of high flow, beaver dams decrease the risk of flooding downstream.

There are a number of mitigation measures available to prevent beavers from felling specific trees or to discourage activity in an area that might cause conflict. Advice is available on the government website here.

The Wildlife Trusts have been involved in UK beaver reintroductions since the beginning. In 2009, Scottish Wildlife Trust was one of the partners in the Knapdale Beaver Trial, a project which ultimately led to beavers gaining legal protected species status in Scotland.

At the same time, a population of wild living beavers of unknown origin was discovered on the River Otter in Devon. The government initially planned to remove the animals, but local communities and organisations, including Devon Wildlife Trust, opposed this, leading to a five year trial to monitor the impacts on the river catchment.

We’ve come a long way in the 15 years since, with the beaver recognized as a protected species in both Scotland and England. In September of this year, the Welsh Government released a statement to say they are supportive of moving towards the managed reintroduction of beavers, with a focus on coexistence between wildlife and human communities.

In England, there are both wild beavers and beavers in enclosures. Many landowners have used beavers in enclosures as a management tool to target a specific issue on a watercourse. These enclosures must be licenced by Natural England. Although we have wild beavers in England, at the time of writing, there is no licence available to conduct wild releases. Wild releases are possible in Scotland. Earlier this year, I was lucky to see wild beavers in the centre of Canterbury in Kent, where visitors and locals alike stopped to watch them. It was a truly wonderful experience and one that I hope will become commonplace throughout the UK.

The only beavers in Northumberland are in an enclosure at National Trust’s Wallington Estate, part of their Wilder Wallington project. Read about them here. You are able to visit the enclosure during guided visits with Wild Intrigue, a CIC dedicated to connecting people with nature. Find out more about their beaver tours on their website here.

Earlier this year, The Wildlife Trusts published the ‘Beaver vision for England and Wales’ which you can read here.

You can find a wealth of information about beavers at the Beaver Trust website here.