Project Beaver

Beaver carrying a mouthful of greenery in its mouth through a body of water

Credit: David Parkyn

Welcome to the home of Project Beaver at The Wildlife Trust BCN

Here you will be able to find links to current appeals and resources associated with the planned Nene Wetlands beaver release, alongside news and updates as we continue through the project.

David Parkyn

Beaver perched in greenery, holding a twig, slightly showing its bright orange teeth

Credit: David Parkyn

With large, bright orange front teeth, a broad, flat scaley tail and extra transparent eyelids (called nicitating membranes) that work as swimming goggles, Eurasian beavers are truly fascinating animals.

More fun facts can be found on our species page...

They also play an incredibly important ecological role. By creating dams, making ponds, and forming canals to swim around their territory, beavers create habitat that helps lots of other wildlife to thrive, including water beetles, birds, bats, frogs, and fish. Their dams can also prevent flooding further down the river, keep water flowing during droughts, and even filter the water passing through them.

However, beavers have been absent from the wild in Northamptonshire for more than 400 years... so we have come up with a plan to bring them back. We have been granted permission (under licence from Natural England) to release a family group at Nene Wetlands nature reserve and will be monitoring them closely as they help restore this wetland habitat.