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Through our Ecosystem Engineers appeal we’re aiming to raise £100,000 towards the potential reintroduction of the Eurasian Beaver in Surrey. This is part of our £1 million Save Surrey’s Nature campaign. It’s an ambitious target (we are asking businesses to support the appeal too) but this vital income boost is needed to achieve more for nature more quickly.

We need to be bigger, bolder and wilder to restore nature at scale across Surrey.

We believe that given the severity of the climate and nature crisis, the natural world needs all the help it can get to bounce back. Eurasian Beavers, which were hunted to extinction here in England in the early 1600s for their fur and scent glands, are perhaps the most exciting, cost effective and natural solution to many of the problems we face – from the loss of wetlands, the decline of hundreds of species, to wildfires and flooding. Beavers are officially recognised as a native species that is protected by law, and that can be legally introduced into the wild under license – this is because the evidence overwhelmingly suggests that their return will be good news for people and nature in the UK.

By creating natural dams which hold back water and by coppicing bankside trees, Beavers could over time restore many of our lost wetland habitats at low cost and without excessive human intervention. This is all in line with our wider objectives of increasing the biodiversity of existing habitats and restoring 30 per cent of the UK for nature by 2030 – a vital goal for wildlife and for our own future as a species.

We strongly believe that releasing Beavers would save costs, both for Surrey Wildlife Trust and wider society. As with Nofence conservation grazing, employing animals to maintain landscapes and habitats is far more cost-effective than doing this work mechanically or by hand. The actions of these animals in creating wetlands, boosting carbon sequestration, holding back water which could otherwise contribute to flooding, and helping offset the risk of major wildfires would also be priceless in terms of the range of species that would benefit, and the long-term resilience and biodiversity of our county.

Evidence backs this up. A family of eight Beavers is reported to have saved Czech taxpayers at least €1m by flooding a protected former army training site where a long-delayed dam was planned. And new research from The Wildlife Trusts recently revealed that natural flood management schemes, such as those engineered by Beavers, deliver £10 of benefits for every £1 invested. 

Multiple trials, including the Scottish Beaver Trial and the River Otter Beaver Trial have demonstrated the huge improvements to wildlife, water quality, flood reduction, sediment reduction and more brought about by Beaver activity.

We will be carrying out assessments of suitable sites and will provide an update when this process concludes. We’d hope to carry out an initial release within the next few years, if all suitable conditions are met.

Some of our larger reserves, where a release can be appropriately monitored and the animals will be able to settle in without undue disturbance, are being considered – including some heathland sites which would benefit from Beaver-led wetland creation.

We have not yet confirmed a specific release site. Initial releases would take place on Surrey Wildlife Trust reserves, not all of which have public access. If possible, we will enable the public to visit release sites that have public access in due course. If and when the species establishes itself in the county, it’s highly likely that Beavers would spread quite widely through suitable riverside, wetland and potentially heathland habitats, so you might confidently expect to see the animals in the years ahead. However, note that these animals are primarily nocturnal.

Beavers subsist on Alder and Willow and aquatic and bankside vegetation. They are no threat to fish stocks or other animals, and evidence shows that fish benefit from the actions
of Beavers.

Other species which are locally extinct, but which were once an integral part of our natural landscapes, could also be a part of an enhanced ecosystem. In addition to European Beavers, we plan to explore the feasibility of other respectfully-managed species reintroductions to enhance the lowland heathland habitat.  

Candidates include: 

• Large Marsh Grasshopper – at up to 36mm, the largest but also the rarest of the UK’s 11 native grasshopper species.  Populations of this species have declined severely in the last half-century due to the draining of wet heathland habitats. 
• Red Deer – already used with great success by SWT on Pirbright Ranges to control scrub and maintain a healthy balance of native vegetation, this species could potentially do a similar job on other lowland heathland sites. 
• Red-backed Shrike – loss of habitat has driven this fascinating and beautiful bird, which keeps a ‘larder’ of insect prey impaled on thorns, to become almost extinct as a UK breeding species. It was once a common visitor to Southern England, and targeted releases could offer a chance of recovery.