Ray Woods, Rewild at Heart Co-Founder and artist, describes the moment he first encountered a wild beaver while kayaking in Kent, and how that experience helped spark a passion for rewilding. Discover the story behind Rewild at Heart and their new partnership with Beaver Trust to support beaver recovery in Britain.
One sunny afternoon in the summer of 2019, while kayaking on the River Stour in Kent, my friends and I took a break on the riverbank to relax. I saw a little brown furry head poking above the water, swimming calmly along on the other side of the river. I said to my friends, “very slowly.. turn around and look over there” and we all stood, transfixed, watching this mysterious creature who hadn’t noticed us peacefully swim along.
None of us quite knew what it was, and we’d left our phones in our kayaks so none of us were able to take a photo or video, so we took in as much as we could about its appearance – the placement & angle of its ears, its eyes and nose – until it disappeared under the water.
We spent much of that evening looking up photos of beavers & otters, poring over our memories, attempting to figure out exactly what we’d seen, until we finally settled on the consensus that it was a beaver!
We later learned that this particular beaver is one of many living wild in Kent.
A lot of Kent’s fens and marshland are not in good health. Beavers restore natural wetland processes that have been lost for centuries. By building dams and creating pools, the beavers are transforming the landscape, boosting biodiversity and helping rare wetland species like marsh harriers and water voles thrive again. These positive impacts can be seen at the Ham Fen nature reserve, where Kent Wildlife Trust and Wildwood Trust first reintroduced beavers in 2002.
Seeing one of these beavers out in the wild was an unforgettable experience, and is at the heart of my passion for rewilding.
Rewilding with beavers: our new partnership with Beaver Trust
Beavers are back in England, and we couldn’t be more excited. After years of influencing by Beaver Trust and many other organisations, licensed wild beaver releases are finally allowed in England – no enclosures required.
To celebrate, we’re thrilled to announce the new partnership between Beaver Trust and Rewild at Heart, where we’ll be donating 10% of the sale price from all our beaver-themed designs to support their important work.
You may have seen us mentioned in Beaver Trust’s February newsletter, two short days before the government’s statement on wild beaver release licensing in England. It’s impossible to say if that announcement was what finally convinced the government to forge ahead and open the floodgates, so to speak, but we can’t take all the credit!
A little about us
Rewild at Heart is a small e-commerce business set up by my friend Paul & I, where we’re dedicated to championing & supporting rewilding efforts in Britain and around the world. We’ve combined our talents & experience and our shared love for nature & the outdoors to start this venture and help nature as best we can.
Paul hand-crafts beautiful bug hotels & frog logs out of reclaimed & sustainably-sourced wood; and I design the artwork we print on our eco-friendly t-shirts & hoodies. Keep an eye out for a new design of mine which will be appearing exclusively in the Beaver Trust store soon!
Supporting the future of beavers
With rewilding gaining ever-increasing momentum, we have a chance to restore beavers across Britain. That’s why we’ve teamed up with Beaver Trust, contributing in our own small way to assist with their tireless efforts reintroducing and supporting wild beaver populations, and helping people coexist with them.
You can, of course, make a bigger & more direct impact by donating directly to Beaver Trust or otherwise helping out; but if you’d like to wear your rewilding heart on your sleeve too, we’ve got you covered. You can follow us on Instagram too, if you’d like!
This is a guest post for the Beaver Trust website, written by Ray Woods from Rewild at Heart. If you’re interested in partnering with Beaver Trust or finding out more about our corporate collaborations, please contact jolene@beavertrust.org.