In Part 1, we saw the happy story of Boudica the beaver and her family, one year on from their historic release at the Wildlife Trust’s Nene Wetlands in Northamptonshire, literally beavering away: pollarding trees, building canals and lodges. But this isn’t just a feel-good conservation story. We were witnessing how Britain’s waterways were naturally managed up until 1789, when the beaver was hunted to extinction in England; and how they might soon be managed again.
Tim Smedley (left) discusses with BCN Wildlife Trust Project Officer, Ben Casey, the changes brought by the first beavers to make the Nene Wetlands their home in over 400 years, one year ago
In 2009, the Scottish government ran the first licensed beaver reintroduction in British waters (some illegal rewilding had already occurred on the River Tay). The first government report into the trial found that beavers were acting as “ecosystem engineers” and a “keystone species” bringing both ecological and economic benefits. In 2011, the first English pair were released on private land in Devon. By the 2020s, a beaver boom was underway. The Nene Wetlands site became the 28th licenced reinduction in February 2025.
Yet only days after their release, Defra changed the rules. Now wild beaver releases, without the need for metal fenced enclosures, are allowed – if they meet certain criteria. Natural England’s blog made the announcement on 28th February 2025, saying, “Natural England believes that their successful reintroduction will play a vital part in restoring rivers and wetlands… The beaver’s ability to transform and revitalise our degraded landscape is extraordinary.”
A follow-up blog in August 2025 added further detail. The first licensed beaver wild release took place at Purbeck in Dorset, and several other ‘expressions of interest’ (EoIs) had been received. However, at the time of my return to Northamptonshire in February 2026, Purbeck remains the only wild, fence-free release. And that is on a remote peninsula in Dorset.
But to achieve the benefits to the national water system, including drought and flood alleviation, beavers will need to become as common as otters in our rivers. The official progress reports in Scotland find beavers in the natural landscape “increase groundwater storage and flood prevention” along with a marked “improvement to water quality.” In particular, “during dry summers beaver dams and canals have been shown to hold more than 60 per cent more water (including in the water table) than comparable environments without beaver activity”.
Ben and his team at the Nene Wetlands cannot now simply remove the fences. Natural England’s rules state that “Any proposal to remove enclosure fences and integrate beaver families into an existing wild population or new wild release project must first secure a beaver wild release licence”, and so far only one, at Purbeck, has been granted. The very long list of criteria needed to achieve the licence includes “landowner permissions [from] landowners who could be affected by your release” – but of course once the beavers are wild, where they roam to, and on whose land, cannot be guaranteed. And any project plan must also “describe how your release project will interact with: any land, infrastructure, structures and fisheries; stakeholders, including the public.” Again, wild is wild; attempt the same for muntjak deer or hedgehogs, and you’d find it impossible.
Ben is clear though that the benefits of truly wild beavers would outweigh any negatives. “2025 was the driest year that we've had in a very, very long time”, he says. But whereas in previous droughts the wetlands would have suffered and reedbeds dried out, last year thanks to the beavers “as the lake levels dropped they built canals purposely to bring water to areas that dried up… in the reeds, and to their lodges... they are going to be such a fantastic asset for our ecosystems and climate change and flood management in the future.” There’s even evidence from North America of beaver areas in woodland provide firebreaks during major wildfires – a beaver-managed area, in essence, never fully dries out.
Signs of beavers can be seen everywhere in the reservation as they adapt to their new home.
Let loose beyond these fences once demanded by Defra, and into wild streams and rivers, fulfilling this instinct would give the country “natural flood management”, says Ben. “A network of beaver dams upstream slows the flow. We’ve had flooding literally within the past couple of days, and the reason why we get that is because it's such a lot of water all the same time. If we had networks of beaver dams upstream, then there's just more resistance taking that energy out… via leaky dams just pushing the peak down, really. That would be so beneficial.” Especially now that extreme rainfall events are growing in frequency and ferocity, due to climate change.
While there are no plans as yet to set Boudica free, “it's definitely something that we're wanting to consider”, says Ben. “In terms of stepping stones, if we or others want to do a wide release across a river catchment, we can bring landowners, residents, stakeholders we want to engage to the enclosure and show them proof of concept”. Having this literal test area in such an accessible public place, next to a retail park with a huge car park, makes for the perfect educational site. But to reap the full nature and water benefits of beavers – we need to set them free, and beyond out-of-the-way penisulas in Dorset and Cornwall. Only when we see beavers on our majors rivers and tributaries will we know that nature has healed, and that our natural groundwater retention and beaver flood-management has returned for good
