Conservationist on importance of beavers in the UK

Hannah Dale and her husband, Jack, decided to dedicate their farm to nature restoration four years ago

A conservationist has highlighted the importance of beavers amid a campaign to return them to the wild in England and Wales.

Hannah Dale, 42, introduced two Eurasian beavers into a 70-acre enclosure on her Lincolnshire farm near Searby in 2023.

She said her two beavers are "key players" in creating a natural habitat.

With licences for keeping beavers in securely fenced wetlands currently allowed, the conservation charity wants the government to issue licenses for releasing them to wild areas.

The Wildlife Trusts say beavers play "an important role in flood prevention"

Soon after the beavers arrived at Mrs Dale's Wild Wrendale farm, she said they quickly got to work building dams across the dikes, which help to prevent floods and boost wildlife.

She said: "The beavers are a key player in returning a more natural hydrology to the farm.

"They belong here and are part of our natural history. The benefits we can gain from having them in the landscape is really invaluable.

"They are really lovely, charismatic creatures."

The Eurasian beaver is a native to Britain but were hunted to extinction in the sixteenth century

With the beaver pair being a male and female, Mrs Dale hopes Wild Wrendale will be lucky enough to have the addition of kits (baby beavers) in the near future.

She said: "We've seen lots of bonding behaviour so we think they probably will breed next year."

The enclosure at Wild Wrendale is part of a rewilding project to transform the site and improve biodiversity.

The scheme also received support from Natural England, Celtic Rewilding, ecologist Derek Gow and Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust.

On Thursday, The Wildlife Trusts published 'A vision for the return of beavers to England and Wales'.

The conservation charity said the vision would "enable beavers to rejoin our native ecology, providing beleaguered wetlands with a powerful natural restoration tool".

One of its main aims is to call on the UK and Welsh governments to publish a beaver reintroduction strategy.