Beavers released into Northumberland

A family of Eurasian beavers were recently released at Wallington in Northumberland.

The release is part of National trust’s efforts to reintroduce wildlife to restore a previously important part of the ecosystem.

Beavers are thought to be first discovered 10 to 12 million years ago in the UK, Europe and Asia.
In the 16th Century Eurasian beavers became extinct in the UK. As recent as the start of the 20th Century there were only thought to be 1200 Eurasian beavers.

The main reason for the decline in numbers are due to humans hunting beavers for their fur and their meat.

There are two species of beaver, the Eurasian beaver and the North American beaver. There are subtle difference in the two species in their head and tail shape and the colour of their fur. However telling the two apart from a distance would be very hard.

The Eurasian beaver's fur colour varies between regions. Ranging from light, chestnut to blackish brown. They have large flat tails to help them swim and have thick fur that helps them keep warm. Only the rear feet are webbed. The front feet have individual digits.

The Eurasian beaver is one of the largest living rodent species and the largest rodent native to Eurasia. Its head-to-body length is 80–100 cm (31–39 in) with a 25–50 cm (9.8–19.7 in) long tail length. It weighs around 11–30 kg (24–66 lb).

The average lifespan of the Eurasian beaver is 7 to 8 years and can be up to 25 years.

Eurasian beavers are herbivorous, eating water and river bank plants. They also eat tree bark. They eat approximately 20% of their body weight each day. They cut down trees by gnawing through the trunk so that the tree falls. Each beaver can cut down around 200 trees a year.

The trees are cut down for three reasons.
1. For food.
They eat the bark, leaves and twigs.

2. To build dams.
Trees are used to build dams. They also use mud, sticks and leaves to fill up the gaps.
These dams are constantly inspected and repaired.

3. To build their home.
The lodge is built in the middle of the pond they create. This helps to protect them, from predators.
The lodge also provides an extra food source when the winter is really bad and it is difficult to forage for food.
The lodges are constantly inspected and repaired. The lodge also has several entrances, including one that is under water.

Eurasian beavers are mature at two to three years old, but most do not have young until they are three. Unlike other rodents, beavers are monogamous and stay paired up for multiple breeding seasons. The breeding season in between late December and May.

The gestation period is around 107 days. They only have one litter per year producing between two to six kits, the average being three. The young can stay in the family group until they are two or three years old.

The return of beavers and their engineering skills will help with the environment.

Beavers have a very complex and varied positive impact on any immediate and surrounding area they live in. They also have a positive impact on areas miles away from them.

Here are some of the benefits.

Without beavers trees and shrubs can grow so dense that things can start to rot and erode, which can cause wildlife to leave and area.

When beavers cut down trees and make clearings in areas, the sun can help other plants and flowers Grow. This attracts insects and eventually birds and animals start to graze and move into the newly formed clearings. Increasing natural wildlife areas. Where a storm can cause gallons of water to rush down many open streams that could be dry for most of the year. The soil is unable to absorb the sudden rain , which in turn rushes to join into larger rivers and could eventually flood towns etc.

Beavers build dams which create ponds along the paths of the streams.

The dams and ponds help smaller streams that naturally dry up in the warmer summer months by raising the water level so that they have water all year around. This means during rainfall the dams and ponds slow down the ‘rush’ of water along the streams. Which gives the streams and surrounding soil time to absorb water and draw more water into neighbouring fields. Creating more plants which reduces erosion, helps to reduce flooding and increases more habitable areas for other animals, birds and insects.

Studies have shown that beaver built ponds have reduced sediment and pollutants in the water. This also increases fish numbers due to the cleaner water.

Beaver dams do not pose problem for salmon and trout migration, although it may be difficult if there are times of low water in any part of the ponds or streams. The beaver ponds create deeper water sections which helps fish in winter as they can swim into the deeper sections during winter to avoid the surface ice and snow.

Birds benefit from the additional ponds, rivers and streams. Which provide year long water, nesting sites, increased insect activity and resting areas for all species of birds.

There are around 400 beavers in the UK.

In 2022 the government made The Beavers (England) Order, the beaver was added to Schedule 2 of the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017. This makes it an offence to deliberately capture, injure, kill or disturb beavers, or damage and destroy their breeding sites or resting places.