Beavers return to Poole Farm in Plymouth
The pair are from the Tay Catchment in Scotland and have spent the last few months at the Cornish Seal Sanctuary
Last updated 13th Dec 2023
A pair of Eurasian beavers have been released into the re-wilding enclosure at Poole Farm in Plymouth.
The male and female are unrelated orphans from the Tay Catchment in Scotland and have spent the last few months at the Cornish Seal Sanctuary.
The pair have now been in their new home in Plymouth for four weeks and have already started to make changes to the landscape.
The beaver introduction is part of the Green Minds project, a Plymouth City Council initiative which has overseen a number of urban wilding project across the city.
A new start
This is not the first time that there have been beavers at Poole Farm. Another pair were introduced there previously, but after storm damage to the enclosure, one escaped and was sadly hit by a car. The other was then re-homed.
Since then, Plymouth City Council have strengthened the enclosure and invested in more robust storm gates on the watercourse entrance and exits.
Roisin Campbell-Palmer, Head of Restoration at Beaver Trust, said: "We are excited to support this urban beaver project which offers an important facility for community engagement through nature connection on site.
"We need as many spaces as we can find to help tackle increasing levels of eco-anxiety, and beaver wetlands have been shown to benefit in this regard.
"We look forward to supporting the site as they monitor whether the beavers have reduced flash flooding impacts and roll out education initiatives for the city and surrounding area."
Matt Holden, Devon Beaver Project Lead at the Devon Wildlife Trust, said: "This is an exciting development for Plymouth and we look forward to observing the increase in wildlife that the presence of beavers should bring across the site."
The beavers' behaviour and changes they make to the landscape will be monitored to show how their actions can reduce flooding further downstream and create habitats for wildlife in the Bircham Valley.