How reintroducing beavers is changing our landscape

Cornwall's first fully licensed wild beaver release marks a major moment in Britain's rewilding story. Growing evidence suggests the animals are already changing landscapes, slowing rivers and helping protect towns and villages from floods.

Four pairs of beavers were released into the Par and Fowey river catchment in February after years of preparation, Cornwall Wildlife Trust (CWT) said.

Beaver officer Lauren Jasper said the sites were chosen because they offered strong habitat at the headwaters, good damming potential and an existing local flood risk.

"We know within Par, there is a flood risk as well in the park community, so it seemed like a really suitable place to focus our efforts to start with," she said.

Natural England issued licences for the Cornwall release and another at the National Trust's Holnicote Estate in Exmoor, Somerset.

This is not the first reintroduction in the region. Devon Wildlife Trust (DWT) ran England's first licensed trial on the River Otter from 2015 to 2020, proving that beavers could live wild again and deliver significant environmental benefits.

Beavers are often described as natural engineers. Their dams, ponds and burrows reshape waterways in ways that slow the flow of water, store carbon and create new wetlands rich in wildlife.

University of Exeter hydrologist Prof Richard Brazier said the Devon project has already shown measurable impacts and evidence suggests nearby villages such as East Budleigh have experienced less flooding, as well as other areas.

"They're renowned for building dams that hold back the flow of water," he said.

"They create wonderful systems of ponds which store water, often right at the top of catchments.

"In doing so, the water flows down through the catchments more slowly. It doesn't occupy the floodplains where certain villages have been built, and other infrastructure like roads and railways now sit."

He said evidence from another mature beaver site downstream of the Forest of Dean showed similar benefits, with multiple dams reducing flood peaks.

"With the new releases in Cornwall and in west Somerset, we're going to see exactly the same behaviour because beavers do such a good job of keeping the water in the headwaters, where the rains falls heavily, and slowing that flow down through the bottom of the catchments where people live," he said.

In Cornwall, two of the newly released animals have already paired up and begun building a dam - a sign Jasper said suggests they are "really happy on the site, keen to make it their home and develop it into their territory".

She said that although it was too early to say what impact the latest releases were going to have in the long-term, as the project develops over the next 10 years, they hope there will be more beaver sightings across the catchment.

In October 2022, legislation changed to give wild‑living beavers European Protected Species status, recognising them as native wildlife.

Under the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017, it is an offence to deliberately capture, injure, kill or disturb beavers, or damage or destroy their breeding or resting places, without a licence.

Prof Brazier describes them as the "original water manager", adapted to cope with extremes of weather.

He said: "Through building that resilience through its evolution, it has become very adept at coping, managing with this kind of flooding we've seen recently.

"As humans, we need to take note of how this animal behaves because it's been around for a long time.

"It's clearly successful at dealing with flash floods and periods of drought in summer times... We can learn from that."

In August 2020, the government announced Eurasian beavers, of unknown origin, living wild on the River Otter, were permitted to remain permanently and to expand their population into neighbouring catchments.

In 2015, two family groups were released on the River Otter. By the end of the DWT trial, an estimated 15 family groups lived along the catchment. As part of its licence, the trust could introduce more beavers to boost genetic diversity.

Today, Prof Brazier believes there could be hundreds across the region.

Natural England only considers wild releases where beavers can support clear positive outcomes - restoring natural processes, contributing to flood management, improving water quality or strengthening genetic diversity.

CWT submitted its application after months of surveying, modelling potential impacts and working with landowners and local communities.

The species has been absent from the South West for more than 500 years, meaning its return can bring noticeable change.

Felled trees, altered watercourses and rising water levels around dams can be surprising for people unused to seeing these natural processes at work.

Prof Brazier said the animals challenge our assumptions about what "natural" landscapes look like.

"In most cases, it is a human-made landscape, so when beavers come in, they start to make it the way nature wants it to be," he said.

"There's definitely a challenge, but it's not without solutions. It's really easy to manage."

The National Farmers Union has previously expressed concerns about the impact of beavers on farmland.

NFU Deputy President David Exwood said: "The NFU recognises that, in the right location, beavers can provide certain benefits and some farmers and landowners may be interested in beaver reintroduction opportunities.

"However, we are concerned about the negative impacts beavers can have on productive farmland, as well as the management requirements, costs and risks involved."

The government said the return of beavers would be carefully managed to avoid impacts on farming, food production and infrastructure.

Signs of beavers can be subtle. Rather than building large dams, they sometimes burrow into riverbanks, but often the evidence is more visible.

"You may see the stereotypical pencil point trees that they've started to fell or to coppice," Jasper said.

"They're herbivores, so they feed on lots of different vegetation, so you'll often see piles of sticks with the bark chewed off."

Anyone who thinks they have beavers on their land should contact their local beaver officer or wildlife trust.

Both CWT and DWT offer rapid advice if the animals are causing "unwanted impacts".

"It's also always good for us to know where the beavers are," Jasper said. "So we're always urging people to report them to us."

Beavers create wetlands that clean water, capture carbon, slow floodwaters, store water in dry periods and support abundant wildlife.

Evidence from monitored sites across Britain now shows how they filter pollutants, trap sediments, and make river systems more resilient to climate extremes.

After centuries of absence, the animals are beginning to reclaim their old role in shaping the landscape - and reshaping how we think about managing water in a warming climate.

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