This blog was written by Hannah Dale at Wild Wrendale, the rewilding arm of Wrendale Designs, a family-run business nestled in the Lincolnshire countryside. As well as producing much-loved wildlife illustrations, the team has been transforming former farmland into a thriving wetland – and this year, reintroduced beavers to Lincolnshire for the first time in centuries. Read on to hear how they tackled challenges, rallied local support and what nature has already returned in response.
The beavers arrived here at Wild Wrendale on a typically wet and cold December day in 2023. Two crates, draped in dark cloths to help soothe the passengers on their long journey, housed the animals we had waited so long to introduce to our rewilding project. Their arrival marked the culmination of months of preparation – and invaluable support from the Beaver Trust, whose expertise and guidance helped shape every stage of the reintroduction.
Between us, we struggled across the sodden, boggy landscape with the crates until we reached a pond, nestled within a ten-acre wood planted around thirty years ago. The pond – excavated when the trees were planted and then almost forgotten – has since become overshadowed by willows that thrive along its damp margins. Beneath it lies a bed of heavy clay, which lines the pond naturally and allows it to hold water all year round.
A landscape shaped by drainage
We often refer to our rewilding project as ‘post-industrial wilding’. This land has been intensively managed in the past: hedgerows ripped out to create vast, open fields suitable for larger machinery and more efficient farming; undulations flattened to make the ground more workable. The soil has been bombarded with chemicals and cultivated to the point of collapse. Yet perhaps the most significant change has come through drainage.
Our farm, in the Ancholme Valley, was once part of a vast wetland system – marshes, bogs and water meadows – until it was drained in the 1700s to make way for agriculture. Since then, generations of pipes and drains have been installed under the land, all designed to remove water as quickly as possible. Rather than flowing across the landscape, forming pools and wet areas, the springs that rise here – filtered by the chalk of the Wolds above – vanish into underground drains and exit the land through two deep, straight dykes that bisect the farm.
Unfortunately, this has left us with the worst of both worlds. Our heavy clay soil is poorly suited to growing food: unproductive and claggy in winter, then baked hard and cracked in summer, but has also lost all of its value to wildlife as a wetland..
Letting water lead the way
Restoring the land’s natural hydrology has become one of our greatest challenges and opportunities. Breaking up land drains and encouraging water to flow over the surface rather than beneath it is now an annual task – but not an easy one. While we have maps of some drain systems, many of the older ones remain hidden, and water always seems to find its way back to them. One of our drainage dykes runs through the woodland where we’ve introduced the beavers, and we’re hoping they’ll help us in this work. We decided not to ‘rewiggle’ (re-meander a straightened watercourse) the dyke ourselves before their arrival. The situation on our farm is mirrored across the country and we are excited by the opportunity to show how beavers can transform even this heavily modified environment.
Once we reached the pond and gently set the crates down, we removed the cloths and opened the doors. For a while, the beavers were still – eyes adjusting to the light, taking in the unfamiliar scents. Then, cautiously, they emerged and headed straight for the water, their large bodies vanishing with a satisfying ‘plop’. Within seconds, they were gone, slipping silently into the vegetation. And just like that, beavers were back.
A historic first for Lincolnshire
Given the policy conditions at the time when we were planning our reintroduction, the beavers will be returned to the landscape within an enclosure. We’ve built a large, 70-acre enclosure for them to ensure that they are able to live as they would in any wild setting. Much of it includes an area where we’ve been trying to restore the wetland by breaking up drains and encouraging water to spread out and meander. In the early years, we expect the beavers to focus their attention around the dyke and the pond, but as the habitat develops – from post-agricultural uniformity to a more varied, willow-rich scrubland – they should begin to explore the whole site, enriching and shaping the wetland as they go.
These beavers are the first to live in Lincolnshire for more than 400 years, since they were hunted to extinction. Lincolnshire is a predominantly agricultural county, relatively flat and conservatively minded and as part of the license application, we were required to engage with the community about our plans. Most of our neighbours are delighted with the developments but it was clear there are still a few misconceptions about living alongside beavers. But we were well prepared to answer any questions. We’d done our homework, including a research trip to Bavaria – a similarly intensively farmed region where beavers have been living wild for forty years. There, we met landowners, local officials and even a drainage board representative to learn how they navigate the challenges of living alongside beavers – and to see firsthand the benefits these animals bring. The overall response has been overwhelmingly positive, both locally and nationally. It’s clear that many people want to see these charismatic creatures return to the landscape they once shaped.
‘Our’ beavers were relocated from different places: one from an enclosure in Yorkshire, the other from a wild population in the Tay, as part of the Beaver Trust’s work in managing relocation and reducing conflict. Beavers are highly territorial, so we watched anxiously at first, hoping they’d get along. We didn’t have to wait long. Within a few days, trail cameras captured them ‘sumo wrestling’ in the pond – a good sign of bonding behaviour. Since then, they have become a breeding pair and regularly demonstrate bonded pair behaviours such as mutual grooming.
A habitat in transition and new species spotted
A habitat in transition and new species spottedThey wasted no time in getting to work. That first winter, they began building dams across the dyke, backing up water to create deeper channels for swimming. One dam eventually extended beyond the dyke, forming a wide pool that spread into the surrounding area, as would’ve happened historically when floodplains were allowed to function more naturally. This spring, frogspawn appeared in the new pools – a perfect example of how the beavers’ activity is already benefiting other species. Today, a respectable wetland has begun to take hold within the enclosure. On one transect alone last winter, we recorded 50 snipe and 6 jack snipe – a striking increase from the 15 snipe recorded during the same survey in the previous year, highlighting the growing importance of the habitat we’ve created.
Snipe are declining across much of lowland Britain, and to see such numbers on formerly intensively farmed Lincolnshire land is exceptional. Curlew, a red-listed species in steep national decline, have also been recorded on the site. In winter, a green sandpiper took up residence – a rare overwintering record in Lincolnshire and an encouraging sign of suitable conditions for passage and non-breeding waders. To top it off, a marsh harrier was observed hunting over the wetland – once all but absent from Lincolnshire farmland, this top predator is now a thrilling indicator of the ecosystem’s improving health.
But the challenge of drainage persists. It’s incredibly tenacious and, despite our efforts, it’s clear there’s more to do. After three rainless months this spring, the wetland dried up again, leaving water only in the original dyke and pond. Interestingly, where clay pipes run beneath the pond, the beavers have started to dig them out. Likely triggered by the sound of water trickling through them, they’ve unearthed and piled up the clay pipes – a surprising, fascinating and deliberate piece of engineering!
The beavers have also dramatically improved the pond’s ecological health. Once overshadowed by willows and choked with dense typha (also known as bulrush), it wasn’t rich in wildlife. The beavers have coppiced the willows, which now burst with fresh growth, and in doing so opened up the canopy, allowing sunlight to reach the pond. They’ve grazed on the typha too, creating more open water. For the first time in years, we’ve had frogspawn and toad spawn in the pond.
They’ve ventured into the adjacent woodland too — a densely planted area long overdue for thinning. Their presence here has allowed us to step back and let the beavers do what they do best: coppice naturally. Unlike mechanical thinning, which can be abrupt and disruptive, beaver activity creates a patchwork of open glades, pools, and regenerating growth over time. This not only saves us the cost and effort of managing the woodland ourselves but also fosters a far richer mosaic of habitats, boosting biodiversity in a way human intervention rarely can. Along the dyke, where we suspect a lodge may be tucked deep in the blackthorn, they’ve started felling trees. This has allowed light into the understory and encouraged remaining oaks to send out new side branches, having previously grown ramrod-straight in competition for light. This complexity adds structural diversity that will benefit a host of other species.
Eighteen months on, the beavers are well and truly settled, and we’re both heartened and amazed by the changes they’ve already brought. The landscape is beginning to shift – more dynamic, wetter and more alive. And just when we thought things couldn’t get more exciting, a week ago, a new arrival was spotted on one of our trail cameras: a tiny beaver kit, unsteady on its feet, sticking close to its mother at the water’s edge. It slid into the pond, tail flailing as it tried to master the art of swimming, letting out soft bleats as it called to her across the water.
This marks not just the next chapter in our beavers’ story, but a hopeful new beginning for the wider landscape too – proof that, given the chance, nature can, and will, surprise us. And we’re not the only ones watching. Word has spread locally, and we’ve been contacted by several neighbouring landowners, curious to see the changes for themselves and keen to explore whether beavers might work in their own flood-prone corners and tangled wet patches. For many, seeing the transformation firsthand – and knowing the animals are thriving and breeding – has shifted beavers from an abstract idea to a practical, and desirable, possibility.
With the new laws surrounding wild releases, the opportunities are immense. These beavers have become more than just ecosystem engineers; they’ve become ambassadors for something wilder, a living proof of concept for what might one day be a more joined-up, nature-led landscape.
Find out more about Wild Wrendale by visiting their website
Discover Hannah’s nature-inspired art at Wrendale Designs
Order your copy of A Wilding Year, published by Batsford, here