SRA Annual Report 2023-24: Somerset Beaver Strategy
After being driven to extinction in Britain 300 to 400 years ago, beavers were re-introduced in 2002, at an enclosed site in Kent. This initiative spurred more moves countrywide.
In 2019, beavers of unknown origin were found to be living in the catchment of the River Frome in Somerset.
In January 2020, a pair of beavers were released into a strongly-fenced enclosure on the National Trust’s Holnicote estate in West Somerset (pictured below: one of many Holnicote schemes part-funded by the SRA in the run-up to the major resetting of the River Aller resetting).
In 2021, the SRA Board agreed to fund the production of a Somerset Beaver Strategy by FWAG SW and Somerset Wildlife Trust, recognising widespread public interest in beavers, and acknowledging that more beavers were likely to end up inhabiting parts of Somerset, so it would make sense to agree solid plans for managing them.
Somerset Wildlife Trust and FWAG SW began working in partnership with the National Trust, the Beaver Trust, and Exeter University.
There was a pause for a government consultation about beavers in England, which resulted in October 2022 in them becoming a protected species.
Activities in 2023-24
Following an initial public consultation in 2022, Somerset Wildlife Trust and project partners (as listed above) liaised with the Environment Agency, Natural England, Somerset Council, Wessex Water and other relevant statutory bodies and authorities.
They consulted with numerous stakeholders and organisations such as the National Farmers Union (NFU) and Country Land and Business Association (CLA), the fisheries sector and local flood groups. In 2023, Somerset Wildlife Trust recruited a Human-Wildlife Co-existence officer (not funded by the SRA).
A first draft of a Somerset Beaver Strategy was produced towards the end of 2023, with nearly 150 pages of technical details in hundreds of maps, charts and tables. Reviewing this draft, SRA Technical Group members suggested some re-balancing. A Technical Background Report was therefore created, along with a forward-looking, less data-intensive, and more goal-orientated Strategy and Implementation Plan.
Further stakeholder events were held in May 2024, and a further-revised Strategy went out for public consultation in August 2024.
The Strategy’s overall aim is to build as much understanding and consensus around matters involving beavers as possible, so that decisions can be taken which are well-informed, evidence-based and science-led.
In short, to form agreements about what is best for people, beavers and different parts of Somerset.