Wild beavers reintroduced after 400-year extinction

The first ever wild beavers have been released in a Dorset nature reserve, more than 400 years after their extinction in Britain.

Two pairs of the semi-aquatic animals are making a new home at Little Sea lake in Studland, Purbeck, unrestricted by fences or enclosures.

This reintroduction follows the government's decision to allow wild populations return to England's rivers and wetlands.

The National Trust, which is behind the licensed wild release, called it a "real watershed moment in the history of the species" in the country.

The beavers have been brought from the Tay catchment in Scotland by the Beaver Trust.

Head of restoration Roisin Campbell-Palmer said there was "high levels of public support" for the return of the animals to England.

There have also been concerns about the impact of beavers flooding roads, properties and farmland, and targeting crops such as maize and cricket bat willow.

The government announced the releases would be "well-managed" and that communities would be helped to adapt to living with beavers.

Gen Crisford, beaver project officer at Purbeck for the conservation charity, said that by working with local landowners and putting measures in place when needed, "we are confident that in Purbeck we will be able to demonstrate how beavers can work for everyone".

"Getting the wetlands back into our landscape is absolutely critical in restoring our ecosystems and making sure that they function efficiently and making sure that we do not stay as the most nature depleted country in the long term," said Tracey Churcher, general manager of Purbeck for the trust.

"They are key for rebuilding that and always were supposed to be in this landscape. It was persecution that led to their demise."

The licensed release comes after two beavers appeared at Little Sea in January 2024, thought to have colonised from elsewhere in Dorset's waterways where they are already living wild, or through an unauthorised release.

Marian Spain, chief executive of Natural England, said it was a "historic moment for nature in England", giving them a chance to thrive again in the wild.

Known as nature's architects, beavers engineer the landscape with dams, ponds and channels that help other wildlife and counter flooding and drought.

The Beaver Trust said they were looking forward to other new wild sites being proposed.

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