Beavers to return to the Isle of Wight?

A rare opportunity to release wild beavers on the Isle of Wight has been announced with the launch of a public consultation.

Hunted to extinction in the UK around 400 years ago, Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust is hoping to support the recovery of the paddle-tailed, aquatic mammals with an initial introduction on the Isle of Wight next year.

In doing so, the island would become just one of a handful of places in the UK where the industrious creatures can be found in the wild.

Following a feasibility study carried out by the Wildlife Trust with support from Exeter University and consultant experts, the Isle of Wight’s Eastern Yar river was found to have suitable habitat to support a beaver population.

And now Island residents are being asked for their views about the potential release through a questionnaire being sent to every Isle of Wight home from Monday 28 February.

Izzie Tween is the Trust’s newly appointed Beaver Recovery Project Officer, a post which highlights the Trust’s commitment to introducing beavers on the Isle of Wight.

She said: “The Isle of Wight is an incredible place for wildlife. But nature is still declining here and faces threats from climate change, development, pollution and loss of wildlife and wild places.

“We want to make the Island better for wildlife and we need the public's support to help put nature in recovery. Beavers are known as ecosystem engineers, transforming habitats and creating wetlands that benefit wildlife and people.

"Beavers help reduce downstream flooding, filter out pollution to create cleaner water and create habitats that are advantageous for other species, including otters, water voles, birds, amphibians, insects and breeding fish.

“All these benefits could really enhance our ecosystems with advantages for downstream communities and wildlife, and being a nature-based solution, beavers can be a cost-effective way to tackle these issues to help restore our Island rivers.”

Conservation efforts have allowed beavers to make a remarkable comeback across the UK in recent years and can now be found thriving in Scotland, Devon, Kent, Somerset, Wiltshire and Herefordshire.

Last year, the Government announced that the vegetarian mammals would get legal protection as a native species making it illegal to deliberately capture, kill, disturb or injure them, or to damage their habitats without a licence from Natural England.

Following the consultation, the Trust hopes to submit a licence application to Natural England, which is needed for any beaver release in the UK.

Jamie Marsh, Deputy Director of Estates and Conservation Delivery at the Trust, added: “Beavers offer so much potential for restoration of our local environment, benefitting both people and nature. As a keystone species, beavers create a range of wetland habitats which are fantastic for a wide variety of wildlife.

“In line with the Trust’s Wilder strategy, beavers will help deliver catchment scale restoration, creating long-term sustainable solutions to conserve, protect and enhance our local wildlife into the future ”

The Trust would like to encourage all Island residents to complete the questionnaire. The information collected will be used to identify attitudes towards beaver introduction, perspectives on opportunities and challenges that beavers can offer, and what management actions can be taken to help facilitate tolerance and co-existence should a licence application be successful.

By taking part, the public will contribute towards a better understanding of how people perceive beaver reintroduction, which in turn will help make future decisions about whether and how to proceed.

Participation in the questionnaire is voluntary. The results of the consultation will be shared publicly, but participation will be fully anonymised in any future publication of results.

The questionnaire can be found here.