Scrutton Bland Winter Adviser 2019

History was made in March this year when a species that had been absent from the east of England since Elizabethan times was reintroduced into a quiet corner of Essex.

Beavers have been reintroduced in other parts of the UK such as Kent and Scotland, but not in East Anglia. In fact the last time there were beavers in the rivers of Essex was well over 400 years ago. Archie Ruggles-Brise of Spains Hall Estate near Finchingfield took the pioneering decision to reintroduce the animals in an ambitious flood management project on his estate - but not without some understandable concerns. Adviser interviewed Archie to find out more about his exciting plans. The landscape in East Anglia, like so much of the UK, has changed dramatically since the beavers were last reported living here back in the 1500s, so how confident were you that reintroducing beavers would be successful? There was no tried and tested management plan for this project, but it is a once-in-a- lifetime opportunity, and one which is hugely important to our local and national eco-system, and for everyone involved so far. How do you go about setting up such a scheme as reintroducing a species? Two beavers (one male and one female) were brought to our estate from a licensed project in east Devon, where numbers of the animals had increased to the point where the scheme managers needed to move some of the colony on. The Devon beaver project was created with

the intention of restoring a Site of Special Scientific Interest, but I could see that a similar scheme could be set up on Spains Hall Estate, particularly to help with natural flood resilience. Can you say a bit about how the flood management scheme will work? Our flood management scheme is designed to reduce the risk of flooding downstream in Finchingfield, although it will never eliminate flooding entirely. This project has required a different mindset to other flood defence schemes: most man-made infrastructures are large scale in size and are designed to hold back water during flooding, whereas the Spains Hall Estate project includes ten acres of woodland and uses materials from the estate to set up optimal conditions for the beavers to thrive, as they build the leaky dams which will slowly release water over a period of time. We have also installed eight man-made leaky dams on another part of the river in order to compare with the beaver dams. It must have been difficult to know where to start, what advice would you give anyone considering starting a project like yours? Embarking on any project which involves wild animals like beavers needs experience and expertise. I worked with The Rivers Trust

movement for over ten years, to build up my knowledge but it is important to surround yourself with as many people as you can who have experience within other organisations and with different areas of expertise. Working together also means that everyone can benefit from being involved in such a ground-breaking project. straightforward to get off the ground. Locating two beavers who could be moved to Essex was relatively simple, but getting all the health tests and licenses for the animals was less so! There were also considerations around the size and security of the area they would live in, and of course we had to get all the resources in place to maximise the chances of success for the project. Funding is clearly something which is very important when considering how a project such as yours can become a reality and stay sustainable. How was your experience of sourcing funding? In the past it was only large-scale flood management schemes who could apply for grants, for example the Ipswich Flood Barrier. However, in the past four or so years, the government has become much more open to The one thing we have learned is that pioneering schemes aren’t always easy or

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