Beaver dam on River Tale
Beavers on your land
Beaver advice and support
Devon Wildlife Trust can support communities and landowners living alongside beavers. We are working throughout the River Otter catchment and neighbouring rivers as the beavers spread naturally. DWT can also offer advice and support on other Devon rivers where the presence of beavers is confirmed or thought a possibility. This includes both the River Taw catchment and the River Tamar and its tributaries - and we can support landowners on either side of the Devon-Cornwall boundary - and the River Exe catchment.
For advice and support with a beaver related issue, including in an emergency, please email beavers@devonwildlifetrust.org
If you cannot reach someone for immediate advice using this email and the emergency relates to the welfare of a beaver, such as an injured or trapped animal please contact RSPCA via 0300 1234 999 or visit What To Do With Injured Wild Animals | RSPCA
Beavers carried to release site on River Tale (copyright Nick Upton / naturepl.com)
Introducing beavers
If you are interested in introducing beavers onto your land, feel free to get in touch. We are not actively progressing other projects at the moment, but depending on where you are, there may be opportunities in the future.
The Making Space for Water programme will work with land managers to create river corridors where beavers can settle and create wetlands in areas where the benefits of these wetlands are maximised.
Making space for beavers
We are currently seeking funding partners and land managers to work with us to deliver positive change for Devon's waterways and their iconic inhabitants. Whether you are a funder or a land manager who is interested in creating river corridors for beavers we want to hear from you!
Contact our Green Finance Officer, Holly Barclay, to find out more:
Sam Moore
Beavers are a legally protected species in England
On 1 October 2022 the legislation changed to protect wild-living beavers in England, making them a 'European Protected Species' and classifying them as a native animal. Beavers are now protected under the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017 which means it is an offence to deliberately capture, injure, kill or disturb beavers, or damage and destroy their breeding sites or resting places without a wildlife management license from Natural England. You can read the full Government policy paper here.
Photo credit, Nick Upton