Farming Social Hub: Nature's great architects

Out and about with the Norfolk Rivers Trust

Winnie and Eeyore have transformed the seven acres of woodland that has been their home for the past 18 months.

What had been a dry woodland, with a very small trickle of a stream is now a thriving wetland with some parts of the river reaching a depth of four foot deep. Importantly, it is wet all year round, despite most of the surrounding farmland suffering drought during the past two summers.

This is because Winnie and Eeyore are absolute experts in hydrology, house building and dam creation as well as being strong enough to do the heavy work and lifting. The two creatures are beavers, a male and a female, and they have been living in Norfolk for the past 18 months.

Tune in to hear the full podcast episode here.

The woodland beaver enclosure is fully fenced so the beavers cannot escape but to this point, the seven acres is providing more than enough food and habitat for the two animals.

Bringing the beavers to Norfolk has been a long process. The first plans were voiced more than nine years ago and since then it has been a case of careful research, impeccable planning and a lot of conversations. The Norfolk Rivers Trust are the facilitators, working with the landowner and farmer Thomas Courtauld and academic partners University of East Anglia (UEA) and University College London (UCL).

Opposition to re-introducing beavers - who were driven to extinction several centuries ago – is vocal, both locally and across the country. Fears about blocked and damaged drains, felled trees and potential flooding are all obstacles that the Norfolk Rivers Trust have been at pains to dispel.

Dr Jonah Tosney is in no doubt as to the value of the beavers’ work in this farmed landscape: ‘There is no doubt that beavers do present some risks to property and structures but they work so much faster than we do and the good they do in terms of increasing water retention or flood mitigation far outweighs any risks.’

For his NRT college Ursula Jutar, one of the most wonderful things about the beavers’ work over the past few months is the growth in vegetation and subsequently the appearance of huge amounts of different species of insects, birds, moths and butterflies.

‘Look at the quality of this water, it is crystal clear and running freely,’ enthuses Ursula as she reels off the names of the various moths, beetles and birds that have arrived in the wake of Winnie and Eeyore’s hard-work.

Tune into the podcast to hear about the lodges and dams that have sprung up in the woodland as a result of this exciting collaboration between nature and farming.

To learn more about the Norfolk Rivers Trust and this partcular project, click here.