Beavers have helped a London council avoid an expensive bill by providing a natural solution to a persistent flooding problem in the Greenford Tube station area.
Residents accustomed to navigating through floodwaters near the Greenford Tube station after downpours can breathe a sigh of relief. The local council, initially staring down expensive engineering projects to tackle the flooding issue, have seen their problem solved by a group of industrious beavers, who have essentially fixed the flooding problem for free.
“Even in situations like on Monday, where there was really heavy rainfall, the area didn’t flood,” observed Şeniz Mustafa, England’s first urban beaver officer. “When beavers put their minds to it, they really get things finished.”
Four centuries after their extinction in England, beavers were reintroduced to Paradise Fields – a 10-hectare former golf course in Ealing borough – in 2023. Conservationists, eager to demonstrate how ‘nature’s engineers’ can make London more climate resilient, released five beavers along the stream running through the land, giving birth to the Ealing Beaver Project.
The beavers immediately set to work, transforming the landscape around Greenford by constructing a series of dams, creating a new lake almost overnight. They even improved upon an old dam built by human volunteers, replacing it with a superior beaver-crafted one.
“I just can’t believe how much they’ve done in a short period of time, they basically said ‘step aside, humans’,” said a surprised Mustafa. “We do make things a little bit hard for ourselves. It goes to show that we don’t have to use heavy machinery or build infrastructure, nature can do it.”
The beavers’ work has not only alleviated flooding but also boosted biodiversity. “We’ve had four new species in the last 11 months alone. One of them is the stickleback, which lives alongside dragonflies and damselflies. We also had red pole, which is a bird that only really stops off on migration,” said Mustafa.
“The diversity is great. This month we’ve had at least 14 different species of butterfly. There are tadpoles, freshwater shrimp, toads, too. None of that would have happened without beavers.”
“It’s interesting to see how other wildlife will just recolonise and return to a space.”
Humans too are reaping the benefits of the beaver intervention, especially in a city where access to nature is limited. “The benefit to the local community is massive,” said Mustafa. “[The animals] have completely transformed my perspective of what beavers can do.”
The Ealing Beaver Project owes its success to a collaboration between Ealing Wildlife Group, rewilding organisation Citizen Zoo, the Friends of Horsenden charity, and Ealing Council, with support from Beaver Trust and the Mayor of London.
“We are facing climate and ecological emergencies worldwide, but we have the power to make a difference,” said London Mayor, Sadiq Khan. “I am committed to ensuring that London is at the forefront of the rewilding revolution as we work to re-establish lost species and reconnect people and nature.”
