ASK AN ECO ACTIVIST
This month
Derek Gow, ecologist on a mission to bring back beavers
WHAT’S SO SPECIAL ABOUT BEAVERS?
They are deliverers of life – and ecosystems depend on them. They fell trees, using the wood to create dams and deep pools, with island-like ‘lodges’ in the middle. These have been proven to alleviate flooding, clean water and boost invertebrate, fish, amphibian and waterfowl numbers. Some species – like the Large Copper butterfly – can’t survive in wetlands without beavers. Unfortunately, we hunted them to extinction 400 years ago.
BUT YOU’RE BRINGING THEM BACK?
I’m trying. Over the past 20 years, I’ve brought about 100 into the UK. The first pair of beavers came from a farm in Poland. They lived in a gnawproof enclosure on a friend’s estate in Sussex, although one managed to escape – temporarily. I brought another pair back in the car from Germany and got lost in Düsseldorf with them in the boot.
HOW DID YOU GET INTO CONSERVATION?
In the 198s, I was a sheep farmer in Scotland, where I’m from. After stints in wildlife parks, I moved into water vole conservation and then learnt about the environmental benefits of beavers.
DO BEAVERS ROAM WILD?
Apart from the odd runaway, the beavers I brought here live on private estates, where trial re-introductions are underway. But in Scotland, they have been re-introduced to the wild. There is one beaver family living wild on the River Otter in Devon, although no one is sure how they got there. Last summer, they won their legal right to remain when it was decided they brought measurable benefits, including turning river systems into wetland mosaics and increasing wildlife populations.
BUT NOT EVERYONE WANTS THEM?
Some landowners don’t like them because they can gnaw down the odd apple tree, but they don’t tend to travel far from the water. Anglers worry about them eating fish, but they’re vegetarian. They also worry that dams will stop fish migrating, but fish can easily pass through them. The way I see it, those of us who own land have a responsibility to manage it well – for everyone.
DO YOU KEEP ANY?
About 30 beavers live at Coombeshead, my 150-acre farm in Devon. I also keep a semi-feral herd of Heck cattle, Exmoor ponies and Iron Age pigs that act as natural ploughs and create habitats for smaller creatures as part of my effort to rewild the land.
IS YOUR REWILDING WORKING?
The beavers have improved the landscape by creating over a mile of pool systems that encourage flora and fauna. In spring, we see bluebells, orchids, wood anemones, whirligig beetles, frogs and dragonflies, but elsewhere the response has been slow.
WHY THE SNAIL’S PACE?
We’re not seeing an orchestra of nature because the players, from barbastelle bats to polecats, don’t live nearby anymore. There are a few twinkly notes, such as salad burnet and stonechats, but it’s going to be a long time before we hear a symphony. If we want them, we’ll have to go and get them, as I did with the beavers.
BUT YOU’RE OPTIMISTIC?
Would I be doing this if I wasn’t? One day, I hope we’ll have roaming lynx, wild boar and even wolves. For now, I’ll settle for beavers. They should be anywhere there’s water and trees. They’ll make those wetlands the richest environments on the planet, bringing landscapes that are almost dead back to life.