Bringing back beavers

The Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber) is Europe's largest rodent and was native to Britain. Sadly they were hunted to extinction in the 16th century for  fur, meat and scent glands. The loss of this charismatic species also led to loss of the mosaic of lakes, meres, mires, tarns and boggy places that it so brilliantly built and managed.

We now have an opportunity to release beavers into an enclosure at the 37 acre Old River Bed nature reserve in Shrewsbury. The site is swampy and great wetland habitat for insects, fish, birds and mammals but the ecosystem is impacted by the fast growth of trees such as willow, which would eventually dry the site out and dominate over the swamp plants if left unchecked. Beavers would help to manage the scrubby trees through their ability to "coppice" trees and reduce their impact on the sensitive wetland habitat. The Old River Bed is owned and managed by Shrewsbury Town Council, who have managed the site with contractors and grazing livestock for many years, both of which come at a high financial cost. Re-introduction projects are already underway in several locations across England and have proved to be hugely successful in managing wetlands more sensitively and for a fraction of the cost.