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Official beaver wild release announced. Thoughts

C

Chris Guy

Senior Member
This on top of several illegal wild releases (Bristol Avon for one)

naturalengland.blog.gov.uk

Beaver wild release: a milestone for nature recovery in England

By Stuart Otway, Principal Officer in Natural England’s Complex Cases Unit and Delphine Pouget, Principal Officer in Natural England’s Species Recovery & Reintroductions Team After centuries of absence, beavers are beginning to reclaim their rightful place in the English landscape. …
naturalengland.blog.gov.uk naturalengland.blog.gov.uk
 
Read the section entitled ‘ updated guidance on managing beaver activities’.

It is laughable.

My fishery and adjacent properties have already been damaged by illegal beavers.

Now NE want me to:

Fence my property, put wire round my favourite trees, fill in beaver burrows, remove beaver dams (but only at certain times). Etc etc.

If I get it wrong I’m threatened with a prison sentence……

Where is the budget ?

My lakes were designated as a SSSI 30 years ago; there is no funding to encourage me to ‘improve’ the biodiversity of my site and more importantly there’s no budget for NE to visit/advise/protect designated sites. Yet recently NE made the entire CWP into an SSSI. Why? It is utterly pointless.

The system relies on the goodwill of property owners and that is never going to work.

PS there are at least 2 other threads on this site about beavers/NE etc etc
 
These wild release projects have been around a decade in the making now and is the only way that the impacts of beavers can properly assessed in the wider landscape rather than in small fenced-off areas which were totally unnatural.

Although a licence has been granted for one site down in Dorset, I wouldn't expect a flurry of new licenses to be approved anytime soon. It looks like there is an awful lot of work and cost involved. But good to see there is a heavy onus on an exit strategy which is important if they want buy in from stakeholders.

Overall good news, but this probably should have happened a decade or so ago before all the illegal releases occurred.
 
Tim Marks said:
Where is the budget ?
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I understand that the plan is to introduce some specific options into the Countryside Stewardship Grant scheme specific to beaver management such as tree protection, fencing etc.

No idea when they will be rolled out or what the payment rates will be. Based on current CS capital grants I would expect them to be pretty generous, but we'll see.

The big issue at the moment is not sp much the budget, but the RPA's capacity to process applications. It's not very joined up..
 
Joe Winstanley said:
I understand that the plan is to introduce some specific options into the Countryside Stewardship Grant scheme specific to beaver management such as tree protection, fencing etc.

No idea when they will be rolled out or what the payment rates will be. Based on current CS capital grants I would expect them to be pretty generous, but we'll see.

The big issue at the moment is not sp much the budget, but the RPA's capacity to process applications. It's not very joined up..
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That theory all sounds great…..

But first hand experience of beavers/otters/ EN/NE and fisheries says it is a total mess.

I won’t rehearse all the facts I have put in the previous threads. Natural England round here (CWP) are a disgrace and that comes from somebody (me) who runs one of the best (ecologically) lake complexes in the area. The quality environment here is entirely based on my goodwill and investment; nothing to do with EN/NE. Woe betide them trying to deal with some of the chancers who run fisheries round here……
 
Tim Marks said:
That theory all sounds great…..

But first hand experience of beavers/otters/ EN/NE and fisheries says it is a total mess.

I won’t rehearse all the facts I have put in the previous threads. Natural England round here (CWP) are a disgrace and that comes from somebody (me) who runs one of the best (ecologically) lake complexes in the area. The quality environment here is entirely based on my goodwill and investment; nothing to do with EN/NE. Woe betide them trying to deal with some of the chancers who run fisheries round here……
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I can fully sympathise Tim. I've had lots of dealings with SSSI's and NE, and it can be incredibly frustrating. And that is on SSSI sites that were notified in the 70's for sound biological reasons e.g. the sites contained genuinely rare and notable habitats. Not man-made relatively new habitats like the CWP.

I remember a visit to one site with someone from NE. We were stood by a boundary fence dividing land farmed by two different tenants. One side of the fence was classed by NE as being in 'favourable condition', and the other side was classed as 'unfavourable condition'. The person from NE looked a bit sheepish when I explained that the land in 'favourable condition' was being farmed by a tenant who had no concept of the SSSI rules and was managing just as he and family had always done.

Whilst the tenant farming the land in 'unfavourable condition' followed all the SSSI rules to the letter. And was in receipt of Govt grants for doing so..
 
There's already beavers on the Bristol Avon. Reported at Christian Malford a few years ago, and now downstream of Bradford on Avon with plenty of trees showing the evidence.
 
The Beaver Trust Instagram page has some interesting videos on it, including some night footage filmed over the course of a month where a pair of beavers arrive at the same spot each night to build a dam. I was astonished by the size of some of the branches and logs they were able to shift. It was quite a feat of engineering!
 
Richard Bennett said:
The Beaver Trust Instagram page has some interesting videos on it, including some night footage filmed over the course of a month where a pair of beavers arrive at the same spot each night to build a dam. I was astonished by the size of some of the branches and logs they were able to shift. It was quite a feat of engineering!
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They quite happily take down 50 - 60 foot trees over the course of a few nights. Smaller ones come down in 2 nights.

My lake outlet drops into a stream that runs out of my neighbours lake.

My neighbour has to clear attempts at beaver dam building on said stream most days. The stream runs alongside a small road and then goes into a 50m long culvert. The culvert is now almost completely blocked (surprise, surprise) so when it rains the road floods. It was closed for weeks last Winter.

Furthermore because of the blocked culvert the stream above it fills up with water and effectively becomes a small reservoir. This then compromises our outlet and water actually tries to flow backwards (as in upstream) into my lake. To stop our ‘land’ disappearing into the lake we have had to completely re-design our outlet system so that we can try and maintain a sensible level.

The local council Highways dept have been aware of this issue for 15 months. I’m told that they might actually try and clear the culvert in April…. I will believe it when I see it.
 
Joe Winstanley said:
I can fully sympathise Tim. I've had lots of dealings with SSSI's and NE, and it can be incredibly frustrating. And that is on SSSI sites that were notified in the 70's for sound biological reasons e.g. the sites contained genuinely rare and notable habitats. Not man-made relatively new habitats like the CWP.

I remember a visit to one site with someone from NE. We were stood by a boundary fence dividing land farmed by two different tenants. One side of the fence was classed by NE as being in 'favourable condition', and the other side was classed as 'unfavourable condition'. The person from NE looked a bit sheepish when I explained that the land in 'favourable condition' was being farmed by a tenant who had no concept of the SSSI rules and was managing just as he and family had always done.

Whilst the tenant farming the land in 'unfavourable condition' followed all the SSSI rules to the letter. And was in receipt of Govt grants for doing so..
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Seems as though as we need a big dollop of DOGE.
 
Beaver introductions seem to be ongoing programme not just in the UK, but in a few EU countries in recent years. The evidence on certain rivers in France and Austria is all too obvious. Rewilding programmes, involving wolves in Austria and bears in the Italian Dolomites, are proving controversial. The Alpine farmers are not happy. Loss and damage to cattle is happening very often. This is being promoted by the EU/Greens and the WWF. A person was even killed by a bear near Trentino about 2 years ago.
 
BBC radio 4 last week had a scientist on who said beavers were responsible for causing ice to melt in the arctic circle as their dams were raising river and lake levels therefore melting surrounding ice which then gets into rivers and lakes and further raises the levels etc. ironically 5 minutes after the broadcast they reported the approval of releases in the uk!
Strikes me that the urban centric bunny lovers won’t give a damn until Waitrose in the high street floods and the butter nut squash is ruined!
 
Kevin Siddle said:
BBC radio 4 last week had a scientist on who said beavers were responsible for causing ice to melt in the arctic circle as their dams were raising river and lake levels therefore melting surrounding ice which then gets into rivers and lakes and further raises the levels etc. ironically 5 minutes after the broadcast they reported the approval of releases in the uk!
Strikes me that the urban centric bunny lovers won’t give a damn until Waitrose in the high street floods and the butter nut squash is ruined!
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England must be at least 600m south of the artic circle Kevin so I'm not sure how relevant that is?

Who are these 'urban centric bunny lovers' that you speak of?
 
Firstly lest I should be branded anti nature id point out that in a balanced way Im pro all animals and in fact question at times as a nature lover if i should fish at all!
My point is that we are led to believe that releasing beavers in this case is all good and from what this scientist was pointing out it seems it may not be. I realise that we are way removed from the arctic but my point is that too much water remaining in or on the land will also at times adversely impact on drainage and when lots of rain lands on already saturated land it will eventually flood regardless of how many beaver dams are restricting the flow. That sudden release is when the dams are breached is going to cause damage downstream.
As regards beavers themselves my guess is that without a natural predator they will breed unchecked much like the otters released on the Nene and other rivers have. Again I’m not against these animals but worry when they get out of control what happens.Evidence of unchecked breeding can be seen in the deer population by way of the numbers of carcasses that line our roads. I’d point out that some of the deer are culled yet there numbers are out of control, the beavers and otters are protected against culling.
The urban bunny lovers I refer to are those that six days a week don’t stray away from town but come into the countryside at the weekend to bill and coo at all things fluffy without ever a thought about what goes on out of sight below the surface and are quick to berate an angler for being nothing other than an angler whilst letting their unruly kids throw anything they can lift into the water and their dogs crap everywhere!
No doubt my sentiments are not going to be popular amongst some but I genuinely fear that we are in danger of making things worse rather than better.
The wrongs of our ancestors in hunting these animals to extinction happened over a long period of time and to try and rebalance the numbers in a short period of time is likely in itself to throw local habitats out of kilter which will eventually adversely effect the animals themselves.
As an aside on a local stretch of river the very people that came to see the otters were up in arms when they got into their gardens and ate the koi!
 
Agreed Kevin. I think our ancestors were a lot wiser. They must be turning in their collective graves, watching the madness that has befallen this country, in the last 60 or so years.
 
Well, I suppose you're never going to please everyone.
I fish the River Otter in Devon where they've been around in numbers for some time and so far the negative impacts have been very limited, and not hard to mitigate for. The overwhelming evidence so far, not just from Scientists, but also Anglers and Wildlife groups, is that they've only been beneficial.
 
Kevin Siddle said:
My point is that we are led to believe that releasing beavers in this case is all good and from what this scientist was pointing out it seems it may not be.
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The whole point of these licensed wild releases is so that the impacts in different English landscapes can be better understood. There is a heavy emphasis on research and monitoring in order for a landowner to obtain licence.

Unless their impacts can be understood on a landscape scale (not in artifcial small fenced enclosures) it's all just conjecture. Whilst all the noise from the Otter Valley is generally very positive (and let's not forget that it was local farmers who stopped Defra from culling them) how will they do in different landscape?
Kevin Siddle said:
my point is that too much water remaining in or on the land will also at times adversely impact on drainage and when lots of rain lands on already saturated land it will eventually flood regardless of how many beaver dams are restricting the flow. That sudden release is when the dams are breached is going to cause damage
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I think the point is that some studies have demonstrated that beaver dams can slow the flow contributing to a reduction in peak flow. In some instances that might be enough to reduce localised flooding, in others it might mean that flooding still occurs but at a reduced rate. I do think that some people seem to overstate this - and clearly no amount of beaver dams and upstream woody debris will ameliorate against some of the ultra-high intensity rainfall events we are increasingly experiencing. But beaver dams are not just all about reducing flooding. By virtue of holding water back, some studies have shown they can help ensure a more stable flow of water in the summer months, and that the dams can filter out sediments and nutrients. At a site in Cornwall farmed by Chris Jones, they found nitrate levels were lower below then dams than they upstream.
Kevin Siddle said:
FAs regards beavers themselves my guess is that without a natural predator they will breed unchecked much like the otters released on the Nene and other rivers have.
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It's my understanding that this aspect will be looked at as part of the licensing. Like Scotland, lethal control needs to be on the table. But the process needs to be simple, streamlined and in a lot cases left to the discretion of the landowner.
 
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