Beavers at Little Sea, Studland

September 2024

Beavers across Dorset

Due to the spread of beavers across the county, the Dorset Beaver Management Group has been set up. This is a group of trained and licenced beaver managers, which is working closely with other organisations in South-West England where beavers are recolonising.

Our remit is support communities – whether landowners, farmers or residents – while we all learn to live alongside beavers once more. The group means we can have a coordinated approach to providing information and guidance, and helping when people have concerns.

As well as the National Trust, the Beaver Management Group includes specialists from Dorset Wildlife Trust, Natural England, the Environment Agency, National Farmers Union, the Beaver Trust, Dorset and BCP Councils, the Farming & Wildlife Advisory Group South West, the Wild Trout Trust, the Forestry Commission, Wessex Water and South West Water.

Find out more about the Dorset Beaver Management Group here. 

Building a viable population

It is still our aim to gain a government licence for a legal unenclosed release of additional beavers into Little Sea, which would help build a viable population. The long-term vision is that beavers will gradually colonise the waterways across the Purbeck Heaths National Nature Reserve.

July 2024

Beavers settle in

Over spring and summer, we have been monitoring the beavers using trail cameras and thermal imagery, as well as skilled volunteers who have observed the site closely from dusk to darkness. It took a while to establish that there was definitely a pair of beavers because they often move around independently.

We then watched as they set about gathering sticks and mud to build a lodge. This is where they sleep during the day and raise their family. In July, there was much excitement when we saw that they had had their first baby, called a kit. Beavers are monogamous, so this will now be a family unit until the kit is around two years old, when it will establish its own territory.

A key priority for us is to safeguard the beavers. We have put signage around the lake to make people aware of the new residents, and how to avoid harming them – as well as protecting any inquisitive dogs.

The signs ask visitors to:

• Keep dogs on leads and don't let them swim in the water. Beavers aren’t naturally aggressive but will defend themselves if they feel threatened, especially if there are kits.
• Be quiet by the waterside. Beavers have good hearing and will hide if scared.
• Watch from a distance, preferably using binoculars.
• Avoid using lights to search for the beavers at night as this can distress them.
• Little Sea provides a home to lots of vulnerable wildlife, not just beavers, so no swimming or watercraft are allowed.

We’d like to thank everyone for giving the beavers space and time to settle into their new home.

April 2024

Monitoring and managing the new arrivals

Since the discovery of beavers at Little Sea in January, we have been working to implement monitoring protocols and to incorporate these animals into our long-term plans. 

Monitoring: Our first priority was to find out more about the beavers that had appeared and ensure their well-being. As they are nocturnal, we have used trail cameras and thermal imagery to establish that there is likely to be two beavers. By looking at the evidence of their feeding activity, we have been able to roughly map out their territory. 

Management: Beavers are a native species so there is no requirement for us to remove them from Little Sea, and it is also against the law to deliberately injure, kill, capture or disturb beavers. We are liaising with partner organisations and stakeholders on the management of the site now beavers are present. We will also be making local residents and walkers aware of the situation. 

Future beaver releases: We are still keen to gain a licence for an unenclosed or ‘wild’ release of beavers at Little Sea as we had originally planned to release three pairs to ensure a viable breeding population. We continue to work with Natural England and Defra on a licence application for a wild release.  

January 2024

Beavers unexpectedly arrive at Little Sea

In early January, we received a report of beaver activity at Little Sea. We investigated and found evidence to confirm this, with clear feeding signs on several birch trees along the lake shore. Although this is a site identified for a future, planned and licensed National Trust beaver release, we had not yet received authorisation or progressed our plans to bring beavers to Purbeck, so this news came as a surprise to us.   
  
We don’t know how the beavers got to Little Sea – they are already colonising waterways across Dorset so they could have got there by natural dispersal, or it could have been an unauthorised release. We are currently working as a priority to understand how many animals there are, and to establish what condition they are in, and working with Natural England to agree immediate next steps.  
  

With Studland already identified as a good site for a planned release, we have been preparing an action plan which we had hoped to roll out to manage beavers and their possible impacts, as and when we received a licence. We are now reviewing this, with a view to putting these plans in place. 

 
We are asking people to refrain from looking for the beavers at present due to the risk of disturbing them. As soon as we can establish more information, we will work out how we can safely enable others to experience the beavers at Studland. It is possible that this might be virtual access initially while we allow them to properly settle in. 

October 2022

Native species with protected status

The status of the Eurasian Beaver, as a native animal (in England) was updated from 1 October. Whilst Eurasian beavers are a native species, they have been removed from this list as they 'ceased to be ordinarily resident in Britain.'  With this change they are officially making a comeback. Eurasian beaver have also been awarded a protected status, under 'Schedule 2 of the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulation Act 2017'. This will make it an offence to deliberately capture, kill or injure beavers, or damage their homes without a licence. 

This month, DEFRA and Natural England have also published guidance on best practice management and licensing to support their protection. This guidance sets out how beavers are protected and a five-step approach to managing beaver activities. More information can be found  here. It also lays out situations when a licence is, or is not, needed to manage beaver activities and outlines the type of licences that will be available. 

Natural England have produced an explainer blog post - here.

Here in Purbeck this information will be presented and disseminated with a local focus in the coming months. We will also continue to work collaboratively with the NFU and our project stakeholders to provide support where we can. 

Next steps

The current information and government support is initially aimed at areas where wild beavers are already found. Natural England are continuing to undertake further work with DEFRA and stakeholders to develop a national approach to wild reintroductions in England. Further information on this, including the criteria for wild releases will be published in due course. This will dictate what is needed to go ahead with a licence application and should generally lay out the responsibility of a reintroduction project alongside that of landowners and governement agencies. We will also continue to work with Natural England on any specific steps needed for a project licence for Purbeck. 

September 2022

Government consultation results

Many thanks to everyone who contributed to the public government consultation into the national approach to beaver management and reintroduction in England, which was launched last year.  Today, DEFRA has published a summary of the consultation responses which can be found here.

As a project team, we will take some time to look through and to absorb this information in detail so that we can work out what it means for Purbeck and how the Purbeck Beaver Project can best support our community.  We will continue to work alongside anyone affected by a local beaver reintroduction and will be creating local management plans to fit within the national framework.

June 2022

Project reporting

From January 2021, when we set out our project proposal, the beaver project has been in a phase of definition and development, aided by funding from Dorset AONB.  Case study: Purbeck Beaver Development Phase - Dorset AONB

Impact assessments have been carried out across the landscape including ecological features, historical features, infrastructure and potentially vulnerable sites. Management plans have been created with the support of national beaver experts, a monitoring programme has been designed and risk assessments have been produced. A final report has been produced to summarise the preparatory work undertaken so far. This will be submitted to DEFRA alongside the licence application - when this becomes a possiibility.

A recently published report from Natural England captures lessons from the River Otter Beaver Trial and River Tamar Catchment, which will be relevant to any project looking into starting up community steering groups to manage wild beavers. Natural England report

April 2022

Baseline monitoring

The Purbeck Beaver Project is currently focussed on ensuring the collection of baseline data for ecological monitoring of the area. In order to understand the impact that beavers have, we need to understand what we have now, prior to their arrival. More recently we have completed eDNA sampling at Little Sea; are investing in water chemistry equipment; and have volunteer groups contributing to surveys for botany, water vole, amphibians, dragonflies and damselflies. We have also partnered with the Dorset Wildlife Trust to test our remote camera equipment (generously donated by WECS Ltd); to set up Riverfly monitoring sites; and to facilitate electrofishing surveys in the Corfe River (kindly completed by Bournemouth University Global Environment Solutions). Our Nature Champion volunteers continue to work hard in spreading information and awareness about beavers to various groups within the community.

December 2021

Extreme E

The Purbeck Beaver Project has been given an opportunity to acquire some funding towards the project from a private sector sponsor, Extreme E. Extreme E is an off-road electric vehicle racing series, which is raising awareness for climate change issues and the performance and benefits of low carbon vehicles. The final round of the championship has been relocated to the MoD heaths at Bovington due to Covid travel restrictions, and they have chosen us as their local legacy project.  https://www.extreme-e.com/en/news/434_Jurassic-X-Prix-Legacy-Programme-revealed

The money they donate will be ring-fenced until we get beavers, and used to help ongoing support for local farmers, including the mitigation and site protection works that our stakeholder consultation has identified as necessary. All parties involved are aware that we require a licence before we can proceed.   

We are putting on an event for the drivers and sponsors of Extreme E in December. Media and TV coverage will help us to spread awareness of the issues surrounding climate in the UK and how beavers can help. 

August 2021

National guidance and licences

A public consultation into the future of beaver releases and the management of the species in the wild in England was launched. Landmark consultation document. This set out and provided the opportunity to feed back on a proposed approach to beaver management. Project stakeholders have been encouraged to submit organisational and independent responses. Information compiled from our stakeholder engagement work over the past 2 years has also been submitted on behalf of the project. This has given us a good idea of the local management needs and the government support that will be needed to make a beaver reintroduction work well in Purbeck. We recognise the need to support farmers and landowners and to manage impacts where required.  

The consultation will close on 17 November 2021. During the time, we will continue to work with our project partners to ensure that any releavant information and support is available. 

If you would like to understand any of the issues that local people here have raised before responding to the consultation, please do get in touch. 

March 2021

Applications paused

We have recently been made aware that DEFRA are now unlikely to process unfenced licence applications until such time that the government makes a national decision about beavers in England. We expect to see this government consultation in the coming months. As such, our licence application will be deferred until further notice.

In the meantime, efforts will re-focus on putting more details on the management plans for our project proposal, completing any outstanding site assessments to establish future management requirements across the phase 2 area, and inviting further discussion around local management strategies and research. This will enable us to be well prepared for the government policy when it is released. Local education opportunities will also be explored now, with input from volunteers, schools and community groups, so that we may bring the yonger generations along for the ride and continue the positive momentum of building awareness within the community.

January 2021

A phased approach

Choosing Little Sea

The first site chosen is Little Sea in Studland. This is a highly suitable fresh water habitat, surrounded by sea and dry heath which will help to contain the beavers. The sea and dry heathland are inhospitable to beavers which will naturally encourage them to remain within the National Nature Reserve area at Little Sea. 

A unfenced release site first

If the Little Sea release is approved by the Department of the Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), it could be the UK’s first licence for an unfenced release of beavers into the wild.

Forward planning for a second phase

If the reintroduction is successful, we would consider carrying out a second phase. Phase two would involve working with neighbouring landowners to return beavers across the Purbeck Heaths National Nature Reserve, with all the benefits to water quality and biodiversity that would bring.

July 2019

The consultation starts

Consulting with the local community

We’ve consulted with landowners and engaged with the local community to listen to a broad range of views.

Widespread enthusiasm received

The feedback revealed widespread enthusiasm for bringing beavers back to Purbeck and helped to identify where is support is needed and the measures required.

January 2019

Commissioning the feasibility study

A University of Exeter study was commissioned to investigate the possibility of reintroducing beavers back to the Purbeck area. Any reintroduction would be to make full use of their ‘eco engineering’ skills to enhance biodiversity and improve water quality.