In a first for urban conservation, a young female beaver from Paradise Fields in Greenford has been relocated to mid-Wales to help restore wetlands and strengthen Britain’s growing beaver population.
Born at the The Ealing Beaver Project in Paradise Fields – the UK’s first urban and fully accessible beaver enclosure – she has moved to the Dyfi Osprey Project in Montgomeryshire. The Ealing project, a collaboration between Ealing Wildlife Group, Citizen Zoo, Ealing Council, Friends of Horsenden Hill, with support from Beaver Trust and Mayor of London, released a family of five beavers into the site in October 2023.
There, she will be paired with a male beaver named Barti in the hope they will start a family and contribute to the long-term recovery of the species across Britain.
The move marks a significant step in connecting urban and rural rewilding. Since its launch in 2023, the Ealing Beaver Project has become a model for coexistence between people and wildlife. Project leaders say beavers’ dam-building has prevented flooding near Greenford station and also reduced antisocial behaviour in the area by 90%. Their wetland engineering has also boosted biodiversity and improved the site’s resilience to drought.
Beavers naturally disperse from their families after about three years to establish new territories, but the enclosed Greenford site limits such opportunities. Working with Beaver Trust and the Dyfi Osprey Project, the Ealing team translocated one of its young females to Wales to encourage natural expansion and genetic diversity.
Dr Sean McCormack, project lead and licence holder, said: “After many late nights trapping, I’m delighted we caught one of our eligible Ealing daughters to help start a new beaver family in Wales. Perhaps any offspring they have together will form the foundations for future wild beaver populations in Wales.”
Elliot Newton, co-founder of Citizen Zoo, said: “This story captures exactly what rewilding should be about – connection, collaboration and hope. Our London beavers have already transformed Paradise Fields, showing that wildlife can thrive alongside people in cities. Now, one of the females will help breathe new life into a Welsh wetland.”
Emyr Evans, of Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust, added: “Our newly arrived female will play a vital role in natural re-wetting, which is key to re-establishing the Cors Dyfi reserve as a thriving peat bog and delivering long-term biodiversity benefits.”
