I happen to know that there is a thriving "underground railroad" for beavers in the UK - small-scale rewilders can get one for their site and, as long as there is a population nearby, it is plausible that they have arrived of their own accord. I actually heard about this happening in Devon so perhaps that is the source of the population on the Otter.
Recently, there was a
beaver seen in the wild here in Pembrokeshire. They are definitely establishing themselves and extending their range.
Personally I am overjoyed with their return. I think the return of
native creatures is always a good thing for an ecosystem. I also think that their presence in the UK would benefit us by improving our wetlands, which are constantly in decline due to draining or insensitive planting, and by disrupting and maintaining areas of scrub (which tend to be flailed back to grassland or allowed to grow into secondary woodland). I'm also a big advocate for coppicing and I think that a coppicing rodent is pretty cool!
In many parts of the UK where flooding is a problem, Somerset for example, people have been encouraged to/compensated for building leaky dams to slow the flow of
water to rivers and the water level increase following rain events (which can overwhelm sewers and occasionally cause flooding). The beavers do this naturally and, I believe, their dams were the inspiration for these miniature flood defences.
I do understand the counter arguments - if I was farming low-lying, riparian
land that was at risk, I'd certainly be concerned. These same farms probably suffer from flood damage, however, or rely upon the sewer system or intensive drainage to keep the land dry in the winter. In my opinion, this management style is pretty unsustainable - and just pushes the problem (the water) downstream.
I also acknowledge that only a small portion of our land would likely be affected by beaver dams - a wooded area by the stream that we do not touch as we suspect that otters might have a den there. It is easy for me to make these pro-beaver statements, because of this. If we had a small plot, or a greater proportion of our land was at-risk, I might have a different view.
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