Welsh Beaver Project

Overview

The Welsh Beaver Project began investigating the return of beavers to Wales in 2005. It is led by North Wales Wildlife Trust on behalf of all five Welsh Wildlife Trusts, working with Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust, Beaver Trust, Natural Resources Wales, Welsh Government and the WildCRU team at the University of Oxford.

Twenty years is a long time to spend on one species, and the pace is the story. The project published a feasibility assessment in 2012, secured a licensed enclosure release in 2021, and saw beavers recognised in Welsh law as a native protected species in 2026. Wales was the last of the three British nations to take that step.

How It Got Here

• 2005 The Welsh Beaver Project begins investigating the feasibility of returning beavers to Wales.
• 2012 The Welsh Beaver Assessment Report is published.
• Autumn 2020 Natural Resources Wales consults on a draft decision to licence an enclosed release at Cors Dyfi.
• 26 March 2021 The first beavers arrive at Cors Dyfi: an adult male black morph named Barti Ddu, after the Welsh pirate, and his son, with the mother following within weeks. They came from Scotland, relocated from conflict sites and health-screened before travel. This was the first officially licensed beaver release in Wales.
• December 2023 Natural Resources Wales publishes its beaver evidence review.
• 26 September 2024 Welsh Government issues a written statement supporting managed reintroduction.
• November 2025 The Wales Beaver Forum meets for the first time, and a female beaver relocated from Ealing is released at Cors Dyfi to pair with Barti, whose previous mate died in 2024.
• 4 March 2026 The Beavers (Wales) Order 2026 comes into force.

The Legal Position

The Beavers (Wales) Order 2026 was made on 2 February 2026, laid before the Senedd the following day, and came into force on 4 March 2026. It does two things. It inserts the Eurasian beaver into Part 1A of Schedule 9 to the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, the list of native animals, and removes it from Part 1B, the list of animals no longer normally present. And it adds the beaver to Schedule 2 of the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017, conferring European Protected Species status.

In practice that means it is now unlawful to deliberately injure, kill, capture or disturb a beaver, or to damage or destroy a beaver breeding site or resting place such as a burrow, lodge or dam, without a licence from Natural Resources Wales. Releasing beavers requires a licence, and release into an enclosure counts as release into the wild for licensing purposes.

Wales was last of the three British nations to do this. Scotland granted protection in 2019 and England in 2022. Landowners affected by beaver activity should contact the Natural Resources Wales species licensing team.

Are There Wild Beavers in Wales?

There is no established wild population, but there are beavers living free in Wales. Natural Resources Wales set out the position in its December 2023 evidence review: no established population, though evidence suggests small numbers in discrete locations, and four licensed enclosures in Wales at that point.

A 2020 survey commissioned by Natural Resources Wales found signs of beaver activity in four main areas of the Dyfi catchment, indicating animals present in small numbers at low density over several years. A 2019 cross-border survey suggested a small number of free-roaming beavers may be present on the Welsh side of the Wye. Natural Resources Wales has not published a population estimate for Wales, and any figure you see quoted elsewhere should be treated as an estimate rather than a count.

Cors Dyfi

The enclosure at Cors Dyfi, run by Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust, covers about seven acres with a perimeter of roughly 700 metres, holding three interconnected pools, a network of ditches and birch and willow scrub.

The reason for putting beavers there was practical rather than symbolic. Dense willow and birch scrub was drying out the wetland, and hand management of residual forestry ditches and stumps had proved impractical. The beavers do the work instead, supporting the recovery of the lowland raised bog. Planning permission for a beaver observatory at the reserve was granted in October 2025.

The Licence Application

North Wales Wildlife Trust has submitted a licence application to Natural Resources Wales for the release of beavers into the Dyfi catchment. It describes this as a population reinforcement to improve the genetic health of the small population already there. Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust describes the same application as a managed reintroduction onto the River Dyfi, run as a five-year monitoring initiative.

Natural Resources Wales requires nine documents for a release licence, including a stakeholder engagement summary, veterinary and general risk assessments, an impact mitigation plan and an exit strategy. Its target is 40 working days to determine a licence, but high-profile applications may go to public consultation and be assessed against IUCN guidelines. The Trusts say a public consultation is likely. As of September 2026 no decision and no consultation had been published.

The Case and the Caveats

Natural Resources Wales concluded that beaver reintroduction is ecologically feasible with potential net benefit to Welsh ecosystems. The evidence indicates beavers can reduce flood peaks, increase base flows and improve river channel structure, which matters because Welsh rivers have significant morphological problems. Their dams also trap sediment and filter pollutants from agricultural runoff.

The same review is candid about risks, and any honest account should carry them. Beaver grazing could tip shallow, nutrient-stressed Welsh lakes from clear water into a turbid state with more algal blooms. There are risks to freshwater pearl mussel, which is critically endangered in Wales, to rare riverside lichens and to oceanic bryophytes in rainforest woodland. Ash dieback could be accelerated, because coppiced ash is more susceptible and beavers favour ash. Atlantic salmon and sea trout are the main fisheries concern, since both are already declining and dams can obstruct migration.

The review also makes a point about who pays. The costs of beaver activity, mainly localised flooding behind dams, fall disproportionately on a small number of landowners and farmers, while the benefits are spread across society. And it warns explicitly that beavers are not a substitute for tackling catchment pollution and over-abstraction at source.

Working With Landowners

North Wales Wildlife Trust has established a Beaver Management Network, including trained volunteers on hand to deal with problems, developed through a Living with Beavers in the Dyfi Catchment project funded by the Nature Networks Fund. The Wales Beaver Forum, set up by Welsh Government and first meeting in November 2025, brings together landowners, farming and fisheries interests and conservation organisations.

Not everyone is convinced. NFU Cymru, in a position statement in March 2025, called Welsh Government support for managed reintroduction highly premature and a risky course of action, citing Scottish experience of compromised land drainage, damaged crops, unstable riverbanks and injury risk from ground collapsing over beaver structures. It has asked for compensation for damage, control options where impacts occur and stronger enforcement against illegal releases.

Seeing Beavers in Wales

Cors Dyfi Nature Reserve near Machynlleth is the place to go, and it is open to visitors with a wildlife centre, cafe, hides and an accessible boardwalk. Manage your expectations though: beavers are crepuscular, daytime sightings are unlikely, and viewing is deliberately managed to minimise disturbance. Most visitors see them through live cameras streamed to the centre. Ospreys also breed at the reserve, usually present between April and September.

Related Grange Project Content

Read about beavers in Britain, the Beaver Trust, or return to the rewilding organisations hub.