Beaver breeding and Ham Fen trial
Why is this species so important?
Eurasian Beaver (Castor fiber) are a keystone species possessing the ability to change their environment to suit themselves and benefit many other species by coppicing trees, building dams and making canals. This behaviour can create and enhance wetlands, which are considered one of the most valuable ecosystems.
New facility at Wildwood Devon
We recently have created a new beaver rescue facility at our Devon site, where we will be replicating the work and success in Kent but with Beavers found in and around Devon in collaboration with the Beaver trust and Devon wildlife trust.
In 2024 we welcomed two young orphaned beaver kits from Scotland. Our role is to help these animals develop and grow, build up their fitness and strength to return them back to the wild in collaboration with the Beaver trust.
Wildwood is one of few places with rehabilitation facilities
Wildwood has supported beaver projects across the UK assisting with the rescue, rehabilitation and population restoration of beavers. We are one of only a few places in the UK with facilities to rescue and rehabilitate beavers in partnership with the Beaver trust.
Throughout the year we take in injured and stranded beavers often found in Kent. Working closely with British Divers Marine Life Rescue, RSPCA, East Kent Beaver advisory group and the Beaver trust together we coordinate their rescue and safe arrival to Wildwood. Once here we treat, care for and rehabilitate the beavers back to full health before returning safely to the wild.
Ham Fen success story
In 2002 Wildwood Trust, in partnership with KWT, imported and quarantined beavers from Norway and Bavaria to manage Ham Fen, a wetland nature reserve in Kent.
After their initial quarantine at Wildwood, the beavers were relocated to the 130-acre wetland site where they have significantly changed the fenland, restoring natural processes and increasing biodiversity by harvesting the trees and plants, raising the water table with dams and enriching the wetland habitat for other endangered species, including the water vole, great crested newt and wetland birds.
