Essex , EA     ‘It is oped the Eurasian Beavers will improve biodiversity and help to reduce local flood risk as part of a new approach to flood prevention at the historic Spains Hall Estate, just upstream of the picturesque village of Finchingfield. The Environment Agency is working in partnership with Spains Hall Estate, the Essex & Suffolk Rivers Trust, Essex Wildlife Trust and others, with funding from partners including the Anglian Eastern Regional Flood and Coastal Committee (RFCC). The whole story will be captured in a documentary series, due to be screened next year, overseen by renowned wildlife filmmaker Russell Savory for independent film company Copper Productions. The beavers will have a territory covering 4 hectares, with plenty of trees to get their teeth stuck into and a boundary fence helping to keep them safe. Beavers have not been found in Essex for 400 years since they were hunted to extinction, although they have been reintroduced in small numbers in other parts of the country in recent years. A second element of the project will involve man-made natural flood management measures being introduced on a separate strand of Finchingfield Brook at Spains Hall Estate. As well as helping to slow the flow after heavy rain, the scheme should also create wetland that will slowly release water in drier periods. Click here to read more

In Yorkshire with the Forestry Commission – Guardian   ‘Beavers are being enlisted by the Forestry Commission to help prevent rivers from flooding. Up to eight microchipped beavers will be introduced to Cropton Forest on the North York Moors in the hope that they will build dams to slow down any surges of water from big rainfalls, helping prevent flooding downstream in places such as Pickering. In another project, beavers were introduced this summer to the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire to prevent flooding in the village of Lydbrook, which was badly flooded in November 2012. The rodents build their dams on shallow streams and rivers using small tree trunks, branches, mud and stones. A study recently published by Exeter University found that beavers released at a location in West Devon in 2011 slowed the flow of water, as well as cleaning up polluted water and soil washed off fields further upstream.

But there are a lot of myths about beavers. They don’t compete with anglers by eating fish because they are strictly vegetarian, and they don’t devastate their habitats but actually improve wildlife and plant diversity. And beavers are not an alien species to this country – they were native here for thousands of years before being hunted to extinction about 400 years ago for their fur and scent glands.’ Click here to read more