A beaver family relocated to a public park in West London is helping to control flooding and revive the local ecosystem.
Along the muddy banks of a waterlogged woodland in West London , a mound of sticks and bark-stripped branches rises from a pond against a backdrop of willow trees. 'This is arguably one of the most urban beaver lodges in Britain,' said Sean McCormack, a veterinarian and wildlife conservationist. Trucks, buses and cars lumber along a busy road nearby. Some turn into a McDonald's restaurant parking lot.
Others veer toward one of the many low-slung distribution centres for groceries, mail or hospital supplies. The beavers that built the dam — a tight-knit family of five with three daughters — moved in a little more than a year ago. They were relocated from Scotland to Paradise Fields, a 10-hectare public park about a 20-minute Tube ride from downtown London, where they live in an enclosure that's fully accessible to the public. They're part of an effort to re-wild London — and return the furry rodent to the United Kingdom. Sean McCormack, head of the Ealing Beaver Project, stands in front of one of the lodges the beavers have built since their arrival in Paradise Fields. (Hannah Hoag/CBC) was prized for its meat, fur and castoreum — a fragrant secretion used in perfumes and to flavour food. They were hunted to extinction in England and Wales roughly 800 years ago, although some hung on in Scotland until the 16th century. Wild beavers were essentially absent from the U.K. until the early 2000s, when a couple dozen animals were found living in the River Tay, in Scotland. Conservationists have been reintroducing beavers at locations across the U.K. ever since. Alastair Driver, a rewilding specialist and the former head of conservation for the U.K. Environment Agency, estimates there are now about 2,000 beavers in Scotland and more than 1,000 in England, with smaller numbers in Wales. He was also part of the London Rewilding Task Force that supported the beaver reintroduction. 'Beavers are brilliant ecosystem engineers and can transform habitats for a huge range of other species,' said Driver. 'I spent decades of my career rewiggling rivers and installing leaky dams, trying to generally renaturalize rivers,' or help them resume their natural, often meandering path.Since their arrival in Paradise Fields in October 2023, the beavers have re-shaped their portion of the park. They have built dams, dug channels and selectively cut down trees — willows and birch are their favourites. Their arboreal engineering allows pockets of light to reach parts of the ground below, creating a mosaic of micro-habitats that add variety to the ecosystem, says McCormack, who heads up the Ealing Beaver Project. In a short time, their work seems to have helped boost the diversity of aquatic insects and attract at least three new bird species — including kingfishers and the common snipe, a long-billed, stocky wader — several species of bat and a rare butterfly called the brown hairstreak. 'The whole place is springing back to life since the beavers arrived,' said McCormack. The beavers have also managed to cushion against the rising risk of flooding that comes with climate change in the City of London. During heavy rainfalls, the brook that runs through Paradise Fields often floods and spills over into the nearby road and shopping mall. Now, by damming the brook, the beavers have increased the surface area of the wetland. During a recent heavy rainfall, the larger wetland helped slow the release of water and there was less downstream flooding. People also benefit, according to both Driver and McCormack. 'These urban rewilding projects are just brilliant for connecting people in nature,' said Driver. 'You've got many more opportunities than in some remote mountain … in the north of England.'Last spring, two kits were born — a first for London for centuries. With the family expanding, McCormack spent several days in January baiting large metal traps with carrots and apples. He had hoped to capture the three-year-old adolescent daughter, who would typically be ready to leave her parents' territory. 'We need to help her out on that mission … and bring her to a new project in Wales, where there's a bachelor beaver waiting in the wings,' said McCormack. So far, she's eluded him and he's put the mission on hold until the fall. When the time comes for the two youngest beavers to head out on their own, McCormack hopes he'll be able to release them into the wild, instead of an enclosure. For now, it's illegal for anyone to release a beaver into the wild in England. 'I would say we need beavers back in almost every river catchment in Britain,' he said. 'We got rid of them, and I think we have a moral duty to bring them back
BEAVERS REWILDING FLOOD CONTROL ECOSYSTEM RESTORATION CLIMATE CHANGE LONDON
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