Beavers to be released at Boothby Nature Reserve near Grantham to tackle flood ‘crisis’ in Lincolnshire

In a bid to reverse the major effects of flooding caused by human activity, a group of passionate conservationists are preparing to deploy beavers back into Lincolnshire.

With the fight against climate change up against the clock, environmental professionals are now turning to natural solutions to restore man-made damage and help tackle the ‘biodiversity crisis’ in our area.

Following a 400 year-long extinction in the UK, beavers are now being re-introduced to play a vital role in a number of conservation projects across the country – including a hidden gem near Grantham.

A successful restoration scheme at Wrendale Farm in Searby, near Brigg, welcomed the first two semi-aquatic mammals back to Lincolnshire in 2023 – and now conservationists at Boothby Nature Reserve are hoping to see a similar breakthrough, as they prepare to release two beavers at the site later this year.

Lorienne Whittle, who is the rewilding landscapes manager for the project near Grantham, feels confident the efforts made will help restore the West Glen River – which fell victim to centuries of drainage, dredging and canalisation.

She said: “There is a flood problem here and we need to intervene and re-install the natural processes.

“It is wildly accepted that as a result of climate change we are going to get drier summers and wetter winters and that is evident in the last few years.

“Our project is as much about the flood alleviation as it is about nature restoration and thankfully the solution to both of those are often the same.

“The beavers will create a big transformational change in terms of landscape and the habitat they create will also encourage lots of new species to thrive here.

“There has been a lot of wonderful changes made in terms of nature recovery through government funding and charities, but we are in a biodiversity crisis – we need more good quality conservation sites and projects like this to restore human damage.”

Earlier in the year, a major flood incident was declared in Lincolnshire, following the widespread disruption and damage caused to residents homes and businesses, including in Belton Lane in Grantham. It is understood some residents have still not been able to return home.

Professionals hope that bringing beavers on board to help, will ‘slow the flow’ of the river and alleviate flooding.

Nattergal, which is the company behind the rewilding and river restoration project in Grantham, bought the 617 hectare site in 2021.

The plot of land was previously being used to farm a number of crops which were not going into the human food chain and therefore, were not making enough financial profit.

In preparation for the project, Nattergal set aside two years to study, collaborate with experts and get professional opinions – who highlighted the advantages of a more sustainable solution.

Lorienne added: “As beavers make dams for themselves they slow the flow of the water and basically do everything we want to do to alleviate flooding.

“By slowing the flow it allows the land to soak up the water like a sponge which also helps filter the water and improve its quality.

“England has lost 90% of its wetland areas – which are really valuable wildlife habitats.

“Beavers are what we call a keystone species that play an important role for other animals, they are ecosystem engineers and do incredible work in regards to damming.

“If we were to make the changes ourselves with human resources and machines, I would estimate it costs more than £600,000 and it would also release a lot of carbon into the air as well – they do a better job quite frankly.”

Following the guidelines of Natural England’s beaver re-introduction licence, Nattergal will release two beavers into a 200 hectare enclosure at Boothby, after a quarantine period.

Due to an overpopulation of the aquatic mammals up north, the matched couple will be taken from the River Tay in Scotland.

Having been inspired by the work at Knepp Wildland, which is another rewilding project in West Sussex and was featured on the BBC’s Springwatch programme, the environmentalists at Boothby Wildland will also be welcoming pigs, cows and ponies as free range to graze the land.

Some of these will be put back into the food chain.

Lorienne, who grew up in Grantham, hopes the development will bring the community together. She said: “It’s a story of hope and transformation change and I’d love to see more people engage in it.

“What we have seen from Knepp is how important tourism can be to support nature restoration.

“There are some people who don’t like what we do but as humans, we have unfortunately spent a long time disrupting nature and it's usually where we have disrupted it that things are now going wrong.

“It is lovely to be working on a project that gives something back to Grantham, as its not an area you would associate with masses of wildlife in the UK.

“If people came and had a look they would be pleasantly surprised.

“We’d love to create a community hub and work with more local businesses in the future.”

Boothby Wildland was Nattergal’s first project and it has since taken on two others in Essex and Norfolk.

The nature reserve near Grantham has already had a positive change with the site now seeing an influx of new species flourishing and contributing to the conservation efforts.

If you would like to find out more, wildland tours and experiences are available at Boothby Wildland for £30 per person. Tickets can be purchased by visiting the Nattergal website.

The site also welcomes volunteers to get involved. There is no need to book - just visit Boothby Lodge every Thursday from 10am until 2pm.