Eurasian Beaver captive breeding and Ham Fen Beaver trial

Eurasian beavers (Castor Fiber) are 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.

In 2002 Wildwood, 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.

Wildwood continues to support beaver projects assisting with the rescue, rehabilitation and population restoration of beavers across the UK.