On Monday 16th January, I was lucky enough to witness the release of a pair of beavers into a large enclosure at Ewhurst Park in Hampshire. 

Ewhurst Park is embarking on an exciting journey to restore biodiversity and regenerate the landscape - embracing rewilding principles alongside regenerative farming. Owner Mandy Lieu talks about creating an 'edible landscape' where nature thrives and healthy food is produced. She is a breath of fresh air and one of a growing band of new generation landowners keen to do something practical and positive about the nature and climate crisis whilst also creating connections with the local community and schools. 

Beavers

Mandy invited me and others to witness the release of a pair of beavers into their newly built enclosure - a truly historic event as there have not been wild beavers in Hampshire for 400 years! Local schools took part in a competition to name them, and it was great to see Hazel and Chompy making themselves at home immediately. 

These beavers will, in time, improve the health of the ponds there by altering the habitat and building dams which will trap sediment currently running off the land and making the water turbid. They will create more diversity in the habitats and improve the wetlands, and in turn, wetland wildlife will flourish. 

Whilst this latest beaver release is very exciting and a vital step towards creating a wilder future and will bring huge biodiversity benefits to the estate, we urgently need Defra to open the application window for the first wild releases - including our beaver recovery project on the Isle of Wight - so that this native animal can re-establish itself properly into the wild where it belongs. 

Wilder Hampshire 

When we launched our vision for a wilder Hampshire and Isle of Wight we put out a call to action. We needed more people to come forward to help put nature into recovery. We are so encouraged to see how many people have come forward in the last three years - from private landowners to communities and schools - pledging their patch of land for wildlife, adding to the nature recovery network and helping us get closer towards our goal of at least 30% of land actively managed for wildlife. 

We are excited to see a real interest in land use change, with a handful of major landowners like Mandy Lieu starting to come forward with ambitious plans to rewild, regenerate and restore their land. Combining nature recovery, ecosystem restoration, sustainable food growing, education and learning and community engagement is the future. Bring it on! 

***