PROJECT BEAVER ON THE RIVER OTTER
A trip to Cornwall to celebrate my future mother-in-law’s 70th birthday has been on the cards for a year — with much “will we, won't we” happening over recent months. During my lockdown I reread the book Wilding — the story of Knepp estate where Isabella Tree and her husband Charlie Burrell let free-roaming animals graze the land, and watched in awe as rare species flocked to 3,500 acre world — except this time I listened to it on Audible to enjoy some bedtime listening and eye rest with the words read by the author herself. Towards the end of the book, Isabella enlightens you as to the role of our native beavers, extinct in Britain’s wild since the 16th century, in creating diversity in our habitats as well as many other roles.
She tells the story of the accidental reintroduction of them (hunted to extinction in the UK around 400 years ago) and the role of the Devon Wildlife Trust to not only protect the beaver population with kits (young) found on the River Otter, east Devon, but also to turn it into a trial which was granted 5 years to study the impact of the reintroduction of beavers into the local environment and with humans. The River Otter Beaver Trial was born. Roll on those 5 years and it brings us to now — 2020. Defra (the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) was supposed to feed back earlier this year but what with COVID, they expect to hear more this autumn.
Nick and I finally organised our trip down to Cornwall and tied it in with a stop in Devon to see the beavers in action and learn more about them. We teamed up with our friends the Riddle family — i.e Tony Riddle @thenaturallifestylist, his wife and 4 children. We rocked up on a sunny early evening last week and spent an hour touring the river with the extremely knowledgeable Steve Hussey from the DWT. Steve guided us to spot the signs of the beavers going about their business, whilst educating us about quite how amazing these creatures are. By 6:30 we settled ourselves onto the banks for a much anticipated though not definite sighting. The spot was beautiful — we could see the mouth to the lodge of this particular family (there are now estimated to be at least seven pairs of breeding beavers along the River Otter — and possibly as many as 15 families). We waited and tuned into the sights and sounds of the river: a trio of female ducks being swept along in the current, the blue-orange flash of a kingfisher, the splash of grayling fish as it snatched at insects hovering above the water. It was pretty idyllic, which is lucky since we waited an hour!
This project is particularly amazing, because the government had originally planned to remove the beavers back in 2014, but the Devon Wildlife Trust knew that this was a unique opportunity to figure out just how important beavers can be for the landscape. The project kicked off in 2015 after they were able to prove that the beavers did not carry any infectious diseases. Since then, the beavers have created dams and ponds along some parts of the river — they need these dams in the river in order to feel safe. That’s why these sweet little rodents are commonly referred to as “ecosystem engineers.” The way they modify river systems actually benefits many other species as well, not to mention it also plays a role in potentially preventing flooding. Beaver dams also naturally filter the water, so that by the time it leaves their ponds, it has lost some of the pollutants generated by farming activity that then flow downstream. Their “engineering” work has helped bird populations, fish and the general ecology of the area, making them a wonderful asset to the local fauna.
*BREAKING NEWS*
We’ve just heard that the beavers will be allowed to stay after the success of the 5-year Trial, in what is a groundbreaking government decision for wildlife. Despite this wonderful development, there are still many costs associated with caring for the beavers. If you’re able to donate anything at all, this will help with the running costs of the project and ensure it can meet its goals, which are to be able to continue indefinitely in Devon, and slowly become implemented throughout the UK. This will take a LOT of funding for education programmes and for people to be in charge of supervising the beavers to make sure they’re doing well and not causing any damage, but it’s so worth it because of the incredible effect these animals have on the land. Visit this page for more information.
And finally, some fun facts about beavers:
They have bright orange front teeth, thanks to the iron in them, which makes their gnashers extra strong.
The front of their teeth wears away slower than the back, turning them chisel-shaped as the beaver gnaws at trees.
They use their tail to slap against the water as a warning signal. On land, their tail helps them prop themselves up and under water they act as a rudder.
They can hold their breath for up to 12 minutes underwater.
