Beavers: Recovery in Britain

Beaver ©Nick Upton

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Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber)

There are two types of beaver: the Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber) and the North American beaver (Castor canadensis). The Eurasian beaver (referred to in the rest of this page as the beaver) is the sub-species that used to be present in Britain. We know it used to live here because beaver bones and fossils have been found in England that have been dated up to the 1300s and from Scotland up to the 1500s. They are also referenced in written documents into the 1700s in England.

These historical records also show us the reason for beavers’ extirpation (local extinction) from Britain was due to overhunting for their pelt (for coats and hats), castoreum (for perfume), and meat rather than them being seen as a pest or problem species. As a native species, beavers co-evolved with our other native animal and plant species and they remain well adapted to living alongside each other. It is the Eurasian beaver that is the subject of recovery efforts in Britain now.

Beavers were also hunted on mainland Europe but, unlike in Britain, a small population did manage to survive. In the 1920s, the first beaver recovery project started in Sweden. Over the course of the 20th century, a further 23 countries also engaged in beaver recovery projects before, finally, in 1998, Britain started its own feasibility studies for beaver reintroduction.

The first licenced beaver reintroduction in Britain occurred in Scotland between 2009 and 2014. This was the subject of multiple scientific studies into both the ecological and social impacts of beaver presence. Having reviewed all the evidence, the Scottish government deemed the trial had been a success, leading to permission being given for those beavers to remain living in the wild. In 2019, beavers were granted European Protected Species Status in Scotland and a Beaver Management Framework was issued.

A few years behind, a similar story was emerging in England. Following discovery of a small population of wild beavers on the River Otter in Devon, the UK government authorised the River Otter Beaver Trial. As had been done with the Scottish Beaver Trial, this was also subject to extensive scientific scrutiny. On review, the UK government deemed the River Otter Trial a success and, as the Scottish government had done before, granted permission for the beavers to stay in 2020 and made beavers a European Protected Species Status in England in 2022. Our wildlife legislation was also changed to update beavers’ status to officially recognise them as a “native species now present”. However, despite this, it was still only possible to release beavers into enclosures in England and Wales although wild beaver populations continued to expand due to escapes from enclosures, natural dispersal from wild populations and beavers arriving from unknown origins.

Within Somerset, wild beavers were first reported in the early 2000s. In 2020, two beavers were released into an enclosure as part of a river restoration project at National Trust Holnicote. In 2022, a Natural England commissioned survey confirmed wild beavers were present on the River Avon and River Frome, Somerset. At the time, this was likely to be the third largest population in England (behind the River Otter and Kent Stour). Since then, there have been an increasing number of sightings of beavers and beaver field signs across the county.

Finally, on 28 February 2025, the UK government announced that it had given permission for Natural England to start accepting wild release licences for beavers in river catchments across England.

As mentioned at the start, beavers are a lost native species and our other native species have co-evolved with, and remain well adapted to living alongside, beavers. However, in their absence human lifestyles have changed significantly, including how we manage and relate to the natural world. The scientific evidence and anecdotal evidence from other countries that have gone before Britain with beaver recovery projects show that there may be some negative impacts experienced by some stakeholders although, overall, the positives outweigh the costs. Learning from those other projects has led to the development of a mitigation hierarchy that is designed to enable co-existence between humans and beavers, and that balances the needs of local communities and beaver recovery.

Read more in our guidance document