How London's history-making beavers are adapting to life in the capital: 'They have a right to exist'

A rotund willow tree is missing a ring of bark, cut out like a belt. Tree stumps stand, gnawed to a point. A path has been worn into the grass by the water’s edge. You will not see the beavers. But if you know where to look, the signs are everywhere

Over the past six months, a family of history-making mammals have made themselves at home in a woodland next to a trading estate in Greenford, West London. These features haven’t been seen in the capital since Shakespeare’s time. That was until October 2023, when four centuries after beavers were hunted to extinction in London, the creatures were reintroduced to the wild.

It was hoped the family – two adults, a juvenile and two children – would increase biodiversity, reduce the risk of flooding and galvanise the community around rewilding efforts. Six months into the landmark project, the Big Issue visited to discover the difference they’re making.

“I think everyone across the project has been surprised how quickly they have got to building across different dams,” says Ben Stockwell, senior urban rewilding officer with Citizen Zoo, who is showing me round the site.

“Beavers have a right to exist here. The only reason they don’t is we hunted them to extinction 400 years ago.”

Within a couple of days of their release, the beavers had set to work, shaping their new home in Paradise Fields. A series of dams, constructed from sticks, branches, and mud, block a stream running down to the lagoon.

The biggest is almost a metre high, deep water massed behind it, and a clear stream trickling through. A volunteer noticed it had sprung a leak one day. When they returned the next morning, the beavers had fixed it.

This is part of the appeal of beavers: their dams mean that when heavy rain falls, waters are held up rather than gushing downstream. As the climate changes, their stewards hope this can form a local, nature-based solution to flooding. New ponds and channels are testament to the transformation.

At the release site, where six months before London mayor Sadiq Khan had released them from their cages, changes are evident. Instead of solid land, a deep, wide channel now leads to the water, ready to fill up when rain falls. Across the woodland, which is ringed by a 1.1 mile fence that volunteers check daily for breaches, there is even new wetland.

How can you tell if beavers have been? Not all logs lying around Paradise Fields are their handiwork – some have been chopped down with chainsaws. The giveaway, says Stockwell, is the 45 degree angle of the cuts.

For signs of their celebrated intelligence, look for ring-barking. If a tree is too big, explains Stockwell, the beavers play the long game. They will nibble out a ring of bark around the tree. In a couple of years, the tree will die, providing wood. 

“Part of me is like, they are the cleverest thing I have ever seen… they definitely do have foresight,” says Stockwell. 

“They do have a level of intelligence where they know how to fell things to their advantage.”

He adds: “They have an insane amount of teamwork between them.”

Visitors during the daytime are unlikely to spot the beavers, shy as they are. But footage from camera traps, shared with the Big Issue, shows the creatures at work. The matriarch of the pack will patrol at night, padding around the nature reserve. The night-camera footage shows the beavers nibbling at trees, adding twigs to their dams, and – seemingly – washing themselves.

Brought down from Scotland, the beavers are settling in well. The five-year project is a partnership between Citizen Zoo, Ealing Wildlife Group, Friends of Horsenden Hill and Ealing Council. Its success rests on a 200-strong army of volunteers, who not only make sure the fence is intact but check camera traps on a daily basis and monitor beaver welfare.

Along with helping the beavers settle in, success is a matter of convincing the community the project is a good idea. Volunteer numbers have increased and tours of the site have sold out, while school assemblies have managed to spark curiosity.

This buy-in matters. Think of rewilding, and you’ll likely think of wolves. But, according to Rewilding Britain, the main reason wolves haven’t been reintroduced to the UK is because society simply isn’t ready. Research in 2022 found the Scottish public was warming up to the idea of Lynx being reintroduced. Attitudes must change – and the beavers can be a part of that.

On a less dramatic scale than wolves, however, nature is slowly reclaiming these rainy isles, with hundreds of projects seeking to remove the UK from the list of the world’s most nature-depleted countries. Free-roaming bison have been reintroduced to Kent, and Caledonian forest is being restored in Scotland to bring new habitats for golden eagles.

In London, the Ealing Beaver Project is part of Sadiq Khan’s Rewild London Fund, which awarded over £1m in 2023 to initiatives including the creation of new wetlands in Alexandra Park and Clapham Common, as well as mink trapping.

“What’s next for the project is to continue monitoring the beavers themselves, making sure they are fit and healthy. But also monitoring the different species we are seeing on site, so we can see how it’s changing over time,” says Stockwell. 

“Long term we want to monitor the water levels on site, so we’re looking at the hydrology levels to see what impact the beavers are making in terms of retaining water, and what that means for reducing flooding downstream.”

There is also, tantalisingly, a sense the beavers might get friends. The way beavers alter the terrain offers a safer place for water voles to live, with more escape options from the mink hunting them. Perhaps one day, Paradise Fields will be home for this rare mammal too.

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