Plymouth’s busy beavers

Part of the pioneering Green Minds Project

Plymouth has its fair share of celebrities with prominent actors, artists, sports people all hailing from our fair city.

But can any of them build a dam in a river? Do any of them have orange teeth? Well, until recently, no. And then along came Beryl and Brian, Plymouth’s famous new beaver duo.

In case you missed it, Plymouth is now the proud home of two Eurasian beavers, a male and a female called Brian and Beryl. They have risen to fame on local and national news, featured on the BBC’s Countryfile programme and have even become social media stars.

Safe to say, they’ve certainly captured the hearts of local residents but why beavers and why in Plymouth?

It is all part of the Green Minds project, based in Plymouth and led by Plymouth City Council. Launched in October last year, Green Minds is a partnership project, funded by the European Regional Development Fund under their Urban Innovative Actions Programme. Its main aim? To rewild places and people. It is rewilding urban parks, streets, gardens, and verges, creating more spaces for nature. It is also working with businesses, communities, and decision makers to put nature at the heart of the city. Crucially, it’s encouraging more people from all walks to life, to enjoy the mental and physical health benefits that our wonderful nature spots provide. The more wild spaces around the city, the better for wildlife, and for the people of Plymouth, too.

Green Minds will organise training days so local people can learn practical ways to encourage nature.The project’s work will trial new ways of involving communities and social enterprises in co-stewardship and be supported by apprenticeships, education and engagement programmes.

Research by Plymouth University will evidence the impact of the investments on behaviours and attitudes towards nature and the creation of ‘green mindsets’.

Five areas of Plymouth are being enhanced for nature. A large wetland area is being created in Central Park, providing homes for wildlife and helping to alleviate flooding in the park. A re-naturalising programme is taking place on the Saltram estate, a network of green spaces and wildlife friendly habitats is being created at Devonport and Stonehouse and urban wildlife corridors are being established in the North Prospect and St Budeaux areas, including tree planting and management of verges to benefit wildlife.

And then of course, there is Beryl and Brian’s new home at Derriford Community Park.

Brian and Beryl are an integral part of the project and were part of the first ever urban reintroduction of beavers in the UK. After many years of planning and preparation, the male beaver, Brian, moved to his new home last November and was joined by his female friend, Beryl, in January. The beavers came from Scotland and were introduced into a specially-built rewilding enclosure near Poole Farm. The enclosure was built through an amazing joint effort between the council’s street services and environment planning teams.

It may seem odd to take the beavers from the wild and bring them to a Plymouth enclosure but there’s a sound reason to it. These beavers were trapped in the Tay catchment in Scotland. There, beavers have been in the wild for some time and as a result, where there are conflicts with farmers, farmers can get a licence to cull them. Beryl and Brian were rescued from this fate and will now live a very happy life in their 3.5 ha rewilding enclosure, which covers 600m of river in a wooded valley.

While setting this up, Plymouth City Council kept the welfare of the animals of paramount importance by working with partners including leading beaver experts at Devon Wildlife Trust, rewilding specialist Dereck Gow, and Roisin Campbell–Palmer, the UK’s top beaver ecologist, to ensure the beavers are healthy and happy.

As well as being charismatic, beavers are fascinating creatures with an important job to do. They are top engineers who change their surroundings by felling trees, damming sections of river, and creating a network of canals. They also create soggy wetland spaces, great for birds, fish, amphibians, and bugs to live and feed in. They also ‘slow the flow’ of water during and after rainfall, helping reduce flooding downstream. 

As part of the project, monitoring two very similar rivers – Bircham and Seaton – will take place to see how the beavers make positive changes to their environment and the surrounding areas. That way, a comparison can be made between what’s happening at Bircham (Brian and Beryl’s home) with what’s happening at the Seaton stream, to understand more about the impacts the beavers have on waterways.

Not only do beavers help reduce flood risks, and make a home for lots of wildlife, but they also improve water quality and help store carbon in a really efficient way. Storing carbon, keeping it locked in the ground, is really important in tackling the climate emergency.

So what else is interesting about them? Beavers were once a common sight across England, Wales, and Scotland until 400 years ago, when they were hunted to extinction for their fur, meat, and a special oil they produce called ‘castoreum’, which was used in perfume making. There is now a national ‘beaver fever’ as more and more places are trying to reintroduce them.

Brian and Beryl’s teeth are orange because they contain iron to make them extra strong, enabling them to gnaw on trees, which they make their homes (lodges) from, and also to eat the trees. Willow trees are often their favourite thing to eat. It’s a popular myth that they eat fish; they don’t, they’re strict vegetarians.

The Derriford beavers are named after celebrated local artists Brian Pollard and Beryl Cook. Plymouth’s schools were challenged to come up with the duo’s names and class 3CS at Oreston Community Academy won the vote with their arty suggestion - their prize is a trip to visit the beavers in the Green Minds rewilding enclosure at Poole Farm.

So, one male and one female? Are they a ‘thing’? As much as their privacy is being respected, in February, it was confirmed that they are living together. They’ve since been spotted hanging out together on dam-building date nights and five star willow tree dining experiences . . . Of course, everyone hopes for baby beavers (called ‘kits’), in the future so, let’s watch this space!

There are so many exciting opportunities to get involved in nature and rewilding across Plymouth thanks to the Green Minds Project. Why not get involved?

To find out about the rewilding taking place and to keep up to date about the celebrity beaver duo visit www.greenmindsplymouth.com, and follow us on @NaturePlymouth on Facebook and Twitter.

By Emmie Readman