Beavers Set to Be Reintroduced in Greenford
Ealing Wildlife Group plans to bring them back for first time in over 400 years
The Eurasian beaver is a native British species. Picutre: Ealing Wildlife Group
February 6, 2023
The Ealing Wildlife Group has announced that it plans to reintroduce beavers to London for the first time in over 400 years.
Paradise Fields in Greenford has been chosen as the site for what will be a publicly accessible reintroduction project.
A licence has been obtained to bring Eurasian beavers, a native British species and Europe’s largest rodent, back to the ten-hectare area of woodland and wetlands in urban Greenford.
The proposal, which will be the first time a truly urban landscape in London has seen beaver reintroduction, has undergone feasibility studies and a licence application to Natural England supported by Beaver Trust.
The project is a collaboration between Ealing Wildlife Group, Citizen Zoo, Friends of Horsenden Hill and Ealing Council with support from Beaver Trust. It is believed that, as beavers are already living wild as close to London as Medway in Kent and Oxfordshire, it may only be a matter of time before they arrive of their own accord. The project will allow residents, landowners and other stakeholders to learn how to live alongside this species again in a initially controlled enclosed trial.
The trial will provide data on how beavers can be managed in an urban river catchment as well as monitoring habitat and biodiversity improvements. The latter could allow for the additional reintroduction of threatened Water Voles, now considered locally extinct. There will also be a chance to gauge how local communities can engage with urban rewilding, biodiversity and nature-based solutions or ecosystem services.
Ultimately, the site will be open to the public to experience a beaver wetland as it progresses, after a short period of closure for the new arrivals to settle, anticipated to be some time this autumn.
Dr Sean McCormack, vet and Chair of Ealing Wildlife Group says, “Many people assume beavers to be a wilderness species, in fact we’ve just forgotten how closely we used to live alongside them. We’re so excited to study how beavers interact with an urban river catchment and, crucially, with urban communities.”
“Beavers are a keystone species, manipulating habitat to create biodiverse wetlands where many other species can thrive. Their activities can help combat and adapt to impacts of climate change through carbon capture, reduce flood risk by slowing water flow in times of high rainfall and mitigate drought by holding more water on the land. Elliot Newton, co-founder of Citizen Zoo welcomed the beaver licence approval, commenting: “We are hoping to challenge perceptions, and demonstrate how London too, can embrace these ecosystem engineers as we strive for a healthier, wilder future in which our Capital can become a leader in urban rewilding. Which will greatly benefit not only wildlife populations but local communities too.”
Aerial view of Paradise Fields and surrounds. Picture: James Morton
Head of Restoration at Beaver Trust, Dr Roisín Campbell-Palmer added, “Now that beavers are back in Britain, learning to coexist with them is fundamental to the species’ successful restoration. We look forward to continuing to support the team to make the most of this superbly located site.”
The Ealing Beaver Project are offering a talk on the project with guest host and beaver ambassador Megan McCubbin on Wednesday 15 February (7:30pm). See here for further details.
Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism. Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets. We’ve always done that and won’t be changing, in fact we’d like to do more. However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do. We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area. A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site. One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute. If you do support us in this way we’d be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor. For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you’d like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site. |