A farmer in Cornwall plans to release two beavers in an unconventional attempt to tackle flooding and improve water quality.
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Farmer Chris Jones, who farms upstream from Ladock, a village that has been hit by recent floods, is planning to release two beavers into a fenced enclosure along a section of the waterway.
Jones has come up with the plan with flood risk experts from the University of Exeter and the local Wildlife Trust. The group believe that the beavers’ dams will naturally slow the flow of water, reducing the risk to the village downstream.
The plan comes after beavers were found living wild on the River Otter in Devon.
Though Defra originally planned to remove the beavers when they were discovered in 2013 (400 years after the last wild beavers were hunted to extinction in Britain), local campaigners successfully appealed for the animals to stay.
Devon Wildlife Trust is monitoring the beavers’ progress on the Otter in a programme that will run until 2020.
Researchers in Cornwall, some of whom are also observing the beavers on the River Otter, plan to monitor beavers’ impact on flooding and water quality, both of which were touted as benefits of allowing the River Otter beavers to remain.
Monitoring of the waterway in Cornwall has already begun, so researchers have a clear before-and-after picture of beavers’ effects on the stream.
Chris Jones, who plans to release beavers at Woodland Valley Farm, said the project is set to be “One of Cornwall’s most exciting wildlife stories.”
Jones said, “We’ve done a lot of work getting the site ready for the first task of installing the beaver-proof fence. This will then be rigorously tested by beaver conservation experts to make sure they will be safe in their new home.
"I am hoping the beavers will transform the site by digging new ponds and water channels, making it much better for wetland wildlife. I’m expecting to see a lot more frogs, newts, toads and even birds and bats over the coming years.”
To support the project, Cornwall Wildlife Trust has started a Crowdfunding project, in the hope of raising £15,000. ■
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