Come along to a talk about Beaver and Water Vole Reintroduction on Tuesday 25th November. David Elliott, the National Trust’s Lead Ranger for the South Downs West, will give a talk on beavers and water voles and their return to the landscape. He will give an update on the progress and work of the River Wey Water Vole Recovery project, and will also talk about where we are currently at with regard to the return of the Beaver, locally and nationally, as well as discussing their respective ecology and why they are such important species to consider when thinking about the future of our wonderful local rivers. He will be happy to take questions and participate in discussion.
All welcome, Froyle Wildlife members free, non-members £3, teas and coffees, doors open 7pm for talk to start 7.30pm at Froyle Village Hall.
Having once been an important part of the ecosystem, beavers became extinct in Britain in the 16th century because of hunting for their fur, meat and scent glands. This release follows a successful pilot at Holnicote on Exmoor in early 2020, where the beavers have thrived. In spring 2021 two beavers were released on the edge of the South Downs into a 15-hectare fenced area. A male and female were re-introduced, in the hope they will become a breeding pair. The exact location is not disclosed to give them very best chance of establishing themselves in their new home.
Some 150 water voles have been reintroduced into waterways in parts of southern England after being declared locally extinct over the last 20 years. They were released in August 2025 at six sites along the River Wey in Surrey, Sussex and Hampshire, and further reintroductions will take place over the next two years. The species is the country’s fastest-declining mammal because of habitat loss and predation by the non-native American mink. The population plummeted by 93 per cent in England during the course of the 20th century and has been in further rapid decline since 2000.
Summary of the talk
David Elliot set the scene by reminding us that wildlife in the UK is struggling, with insects reducing by a massive 60% over the last few years and one in six species are at risk of extinction. The main two drivers for this are agricultural change and climate change.
A water vole’s lifespan is about 12 – 18 months, they have 4-5 litters a year and are vegetarian, eating reeds, grasses, rushes and sedges. Female territories are roughly 20-30 metres wide with males overlapping several females. Water vole numbers have been decimated over the last 50 years. Unfortunately, water voles have a variety of predators, but the primary culprit for their disappearance is the North American Mink.
The River Wey Water Vole Recovery Programme is aiming to address the disastrous 90% decline in water voles in the River Wey catchment area (indeed a recent assessment considered the water vole extinct in the area). The programme is following the approach of an initiative in East Anglia which has resulted in a very successful water vole reintroduction. It is being achieved by the placement of 89 traps across the Wey network which have so far captured and removed 107 mink across the catchment. It is soon expecting to have eradicated all mink from the River Wey. So far, the programme has reintroduced 192 water voles in sibling groups across 6 sites between Haslemere and Liphook. Monitoring will take place next year to assess how the water vole population is doing and to determine any further reintroductions.
Beavers have not been around in the UK for roughly 200 years because humans killed them. They are a large riparian mammal with a vegetarian diet, the size of a labrador, and a lifespan typically of 8-9 years but can reach 11/12 years. They breed late Autumn/early Winter with young born in Spring. Their predators include bears, wolves and (historically) humans. Beavers are now coming back across Europe, with in the UK a small recent introduction in the South Downs area following a successful pilot introduction on Exmoor in 2020.
Beavers are well known for building dams in river headwaters creating wetland areas which provides a safe habitat for themselves. However, this also provides a beneficial environment for other native wildlife species, while reducing flooding risk further downstream by effectively ‘storing’ water and reducing the water flow. They are also earth movers and canal creators, again with beneficial flood risk effects. Beavers fell trees providing a food source for themselves as well as building materials for their lodges and dams. Fortunately, they fell only a few trees within each area, so they don’t create treeless landscapes.
Admittedly, depending on the location, beaver’s construction activities may not always desirable, but mitigation measures are available to us such as water pipe installations to address any issues such as controlling water levels when necessary.
Alan Dyos
how it differs from Swallows and Martins, feeding habits, migration, breeding behaviour, trends in population status in the UK, and potential reasons for its dramatic decline. In the rest of her talk she will describe what Hampshire Swifts has been doing to try to reverse Swifts’ decline, including some illustrations of the positive effect of providing swift nest boxes, and finishing with some recommendations for how we can all help Swifts.
UK by approximately 65% over the past 25 years. They continue to decline at approximately 5% per annum. Hampshire Swifts was formed in 2016 in response to the on-going decline of this iconic bird across Hampshire. Our objective is to reverse the decline of Swifts in our county. This is best done by ensuring we provide an ever-increasing supply of suitable nest sites for our Swifts. We can achieve this by conserving existing nest sites and by providing nest sites on existing and new buildings.
