Beavers set to return to Hampshire after 400 years in nature restoration scheme

The introduction of the semi-aquatic mammals, which create wetlands and wildlife habitat where they live, to Ewhurst Park marks the first time in 400 years they have lived in the county.

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They are being introduced to an enclosure in the 925-acre estate near Basingstoke. Once belonging to the Duke of Wellington, it’s now owned by model, entrepreneur and environmentalist Mandy Lieu.

Ms Lieu sees the animals as a key part of restoring the estate into an ‘edible landscape’ that restores nature at the same time as producing food. Beavers were hunted to extinction in Britain in the 16th century for fur, glands and meat.

Now, they live in a number of rivers through official trials and have been introduced into enclosures across England. The Environment Department (Defra) gave the mammals legal protection as a native species last year.

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Conservationists are still waiting on a strategy for supporting their return. There is a growing body of evidence from reintroduction sites that beaver dams slow the passage of water through landscapes, cutting flood risk downstream and also conserving water in times of drought.

Ms Lieu said she was ‘thrilled’ to bring back the herbivores. She added: ‘It has been a very rewarding journey learning about what beavers need, how they will impact the environment around them and the benefits that they will bring to other animals and plants.’

Dr Roisin Campbell-Palmer, head of restoration at Beaver Trust, said enclosures are an ‘important part of the restoration story’.