Beavers are becoming an increasingly common sight for anglers following a series of unauthorised releases.
It’s thought there could now be up to 800 of the mammals across England, and while some were part of official reintroductions, many are the result of ‘beaver-bombing’, or unofficial releases by members of the public.
Last week an angler on the middle reaches of the iconic Hampshire Avon was shocked to see a beaver surface in his swim and start chomping away on the trunk of a fallen far-bank willow. Another beaver is said to have been spotted on the Avon at Ringwood, but the ongoing spread of the species has been met with mixed reaction.
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Many environmentalists stress the beaver’s native status and ability to boost biodiversity. Others, such as farmers and landowners, have widespread concerns that, when beavers reach lowland rivers, their building of dams and felling of trees could cause serious flood risks.
Among anglers, opinion has been similarly divided. Some Angling Times readers, such as Martyn Cattermole, were keen to stress the upsides.
“All the data and research I have seen across Europe, including the UK, suggest that both habitats and fish benefit hugely from beavers,” he said.
Fellow reader Marc Foss was of a similar mind: “They were around long before we started messing about with them, and I guarantee the ecosystem was in a much better state then than it is now,” he said.
Others, however, such as angler Paul Scowen, would like to see more impartial, peer-reviewed, studies.
“It’s completely unrealistic to imagine all the impacts of reintroducing beavers are going to be positive,” he said.
“It seems we haven’t learned from the otter releases, and the subsequent impact on fish and fowl. The world, the ecosystem and our waterways, with their excessive abstraction and urbanised floodplains, are very different to when beavers were indigenous to and hunted in the UK.”
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