Project Beaver

Beaver swimming in delta pit at the Nene Wetlands

Nik Shelton

Welcome to Project Beaver, supported by Anglian Water

They have arrived! Beavers have finally returned to Northamptonshire after 400 years!

After months of careful planning and preparation a family of eight beavers have been released at the Nene Wetlands in Northamptonshire. They are now exploring their new home at Delta Pit lake next door to the popular Rushden Lakes shopping centre.

The family were translocated and released by experts at Beaver Trust following their health screening at a zoo in Scotland, alongside the Wildlife Trust team who have spent four years planning the project and creating the 17-hectare fenced enclosure.

Matt Johnson, Wildlife Trust Conservation Manager, said: “It was certainly a special moment for all our team and all the people who have supported us along the way. Beavers were last seen in Northamptonshire in the 16th Century and this is the first step of their return to our countryside."

Recent updates...

Watch the beavers' first weekend at Nene Wetlands. They are settling in well.

A huge thanks to Graf UK for sponsoring the trail cameras so that we are able to monitor the beavers.

Take a look at the latest that the beavers have been up to...

Beavers First Weekend at Nene Wetlands (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULdCxQAnJm0)

Trail camera footage sponsored by Graf UK.

Watch footage from the day of their arrival...

Beaver release video Feb 2025 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EotXxmUnkl4)

Credit: Holly Wilkinson

I can’t wait to see how they will respond to their new home, but also how the environment will respond to them. Beavers are ecosystem engineers, they will gnaw trees and plants and help transform the site into a more diverse habitat where other species can thrive.

Matt Johnson
Wildlife Trust Conservation Manager

“We aren’t the first to release beavers in the UK, but this project is taking a different approach to others by releasing them in a much more publicly accessible site. Just around the corner from Delta Pit is a busy shopping centre with millions of visitors a year as well as homes and businesses nearby. We hope we can inspire local communities and visitors with the story of nature’s recovery and build more support for conservation.”

The beavers were trapped under license in Scotland and moved to Northants following best practice handling guidelines to ensure high animal welfare. They will now be closely monitored by the reserve team as they get used to their surroundings, make a lodge and start to find food.

A series of information boards will be going up around the site in the coming days to tell the story of beavers in Britain and we will hold education events to introduce children to the species and the role they play in wetland habitats.

Nik Shelton

Beaver on the bank of a lake, making its way into the water, close up

Nik Shelton

Beaver making its way into the lake, close up

Nik Shelton

A beaver being released into a lake, close up on the edge of the water

Nik Shelton

A beaver swimming away from the waters edge, wide flat tail visible on the surface of the water

Nik Shelton

With large, bright orange front teeth, a broad, flat scaley tail and extra transparent eyelids (called nicitating membranes) that work as swimming goggles, Eurasian beavers are truly fascinating animals.

More fun facts can be found on our species page...

They also play an incredibly important ecological role. By creating dams, making ponds, and forming canals to swim around their territory, beavers create habitat that helps lots of other wildlife to thrive, including water beetles, birds, bats, frogs, and fish. Their dams can also prevent flooding further down the river, keep water flowing during droughts, and even filter the water passing through them.

However, beavers have been absent from the wild in Northamptonshire for more than 400 years... so we have come up with a plan to bring them back. We have been granted permission (under licence from Natural England) to release a family group at Nene Wetlands nature reserve and will be monitoring them closely as they help restore this wetland habitat.