Two kits have been spotted in a wetland area in Ealing, to the west of central London, and we are told that they are the first beavers to be born in urban London for more than 400 years (The Times reports).
They are the offspring of Eurasian beavers introduced to the site last autumn. There may be more than two but this pair were noted by staff at Paradise Fields, a woodland in Ealing surrounded by houses with a retail park and a Sainsbury’s nearby.
This is genuinely an urban area with a little bit of nature within it and the beavers have thrived. Sean McCormack, a veterinarian and the founder of Ealing Wildlife Group is one of the conservation organisations involved in the project who said: “This is showing that beavers can live back in towns and cities.”
Although a kit was born in 2023 in a semi-rural part of Enfield, north London, this is the first to be born in a built-up area.
The project started with five adult beavers being released in October last year. Since then they have built lodges, new waterways and dams.
They are described as “nature’s environmental engineers” by Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, who helped to fund the scheme. He says that they have made a positive contribution to the communities in the area and nature.
There are examples of beavers thriving in urban areas in the UK such as in Plymouth which has reported a kit born in an enclosure within the city boundaries. And there are other beaver enclosures across the UK from Cornwall to Cheshire.
There have been big advancements over the past decade in rewilding beavers. Wild beavers were seen on the river otter in Devon for the first time since the species was hunted to extinction in England in the 1500s.
It is unlawful to release rewild beavers. This must be a scheme carried out under an exception to that rule. Boris Johnson was keen to introduce beavers into the wild whereas Theresa Coffey, the former Conservative environment secretary wasn’t. She said that there were more important things to do.
Environmentalists and ecologists hope that the current environment secretary, Steve Reed, will be more receptive to wild releases of the animals. They are known to improve water quality and reduce flood risk because of their engineering skills.
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