Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust is celebrating as beavers are now officially recognised as a native species in England and a European protected species – but it’s not good news for farmers who are opposed to beavers being released on the Isle of Wight.
The new law, which came into force on 1st October, is good news for this extraordinary mammal, which could be introduced to the Isle of Wight by 2024.
Beavers are key to creating thriving wetland ecosystems – which are critical for climate adaptation – and provide a wealth of benefits for nature and people.
The change in legal status will make it an offence to deliberately capture, kill, disturb, or injure beavers, or damage their breeding sites or resting places – without holding the appropriate license.
Izzie Tween, beaver recovery project officer at Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, has said:
“We’re delighted that beavers have received European native species protected status.
“This new legislation gives the beavers already thriving in England recognition as native animals, a status they have held in Scotland since 2019, and will bring their level of protection in England into line with those north of the border.
“While any unwelcome beaver activity can still be managed under Natural England licencing, this protection will help our small and vulnerable population of this industrious ecosystem engineer to establish and create wetlands to help boost biodiversity and deliver ecosystem services for local communities.”
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Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust aspires to release wild beavers on the Isle of Wight as a key part of its vision to support nature’s recovery on the Island and create a ‘Wilder Wight’.
The Trust launched a public consultation in February 2022, mailing a questionnaire to every home on the Island asking residents for their views on a potential release of the aquatic mammals in the Eastern Yar valley. A total of 4,883 people responded to the consultation with 89% stating they feel positively about beavers being released on the Isle of Wight.
However, it was back in March of this year that Island Echo reported on the concerns of local farmers.
In April, a meeting of the National Farmers Union learned of significant damage to low-lying arable land, like that in the Arreton Valley, caused by the burrowing and damming activities of beaver. Damage to public access routes was also highlighted and concerns were raised about where responsibility and culpability for injury would fall if damage by beavers led to the collapse of footpaths or bridleways on a farmer’s land – a further cost someone must take responsibility for.
The Trust hopes to submit a licence application – which is needed for any beaver release in the UK – to Natural England. Currently, though, Natural England is not accepting licence applications while it works with DEFRA to finalise the national beaver strategy after running their own public consultation last year.
If the Trust’s eventual licence application is successful, it’s hoped the first beavers could be released on the Island by 2024.
Beavers are not native to England and in this respect, why are we following EU legislation which we are now not part of. And if they are native to the Uk, why have they not been introduced to the Island before? Next minute, they’ll be shoving tree preservations on the imported Leylandii.
With their burrowing and huge nibbling capabilities, they will soon be destroying roots of our Native protected trees and probably undermine the railway system (like the rabbits do) causing then huge problems and expense, all for the sake of an ecosystem for a NON- native species. Nuts!!!! More for the red squirrel I suppose.
I thought beavers were once a native species in England?
They were a native species until the 16th Century (hunted to extinction).
Diito wolves (18th century), bear (10th century) Lynx ( 6th century)
‘mailing a questionnaire to every home on the Island’ Why does this lie keep getting perpetuated here and in CP? I didn’t receive a questionnaire, neither did any of my family or any people I spoke to at the time but the untruth that they mailed every household on the Island keeps getting trotted out by the local press.
If you accept that they didn’t send the questionnaire to every household, and it’s a fact that they didn’t, then you have to call into question the supposition that 89 per cent of the Island population are in favour of the introduction of beavers.
Personally, it wont affect me either way, although I do know many farmers are strongly against it, but I just don’t like being lied to.
Hope you didn’t vote for Brexit, then.
Because there wasn’t a single word of truth in anything either Farage or Johnson promised.
Ditto if you voted for Seely or the Tories in 2019. Both Seely’s and the Tory manifestos has been shown to be a tissue of lies which will not ever be delivered.
Hilarious .
When we re-wild the lynx, there should be plenty to eat at least:)
I expect those ‘poor’ farmers will squeeze another subsidy out of it somehow, those ranger rovers don’t pay for themselves you know!