Beavers are set to be reintroduced in Enfield
(Picture: AFP via Getty Images)Enfield’s beavers are blissfully unaware of the stir they have caused in recent days. Basking in London’s spring sunshine, Yorkshire’s finest Justin Beaver and Scottish born, Sigourney Beaver, had never met prior to their release into an Enfield brook and so have spent the weekend getting to know each other while starting a dam, and maybe even the baby beaver making process.
This feel-good project has been the culmination of two years work by Enfield Council and Capel Manor College with an expert helping hand from the Beaver Trust. It’s 400 years since these semiaquatic broad-tailed rodents were hunted close to extinction for their pelts and meat but their reintroduction has significant benefits for our modern world. Our climate is changing; warmer, wetter weather will become the norm and flood alleviation is becoming vital. Beavers are described as a “keystone” species and we’re keen to explore how their dams can benefit local areas reducing pollution and flood risk while also creating wetland habitats where amphibians, birds and insects such as dragonflies can thrive.
