Conservationists say beaver bombing is the fault of government

Why are there now so many beavers living on rivers across the south of England? Patrick Barkham will tell you:

"Beaver bombing", covertly releasing beavers into the countryside, is increasing in England because successive governments have not fulfilled promises to permit some planned wild releases, conservationists are warning.

Beavers now live freely on river systems across swaths of southern England, and conservationists are calling on Labour to allow official releases of free-living beavers and produce a national strategy to maximise the biodiversity and flood alleviation benefits delivered by the industrious mammals.

Eva Bishop, of the Beaver Trust, said: "Beavers are a native species with lots to offer in terms of landscape resilience, boosting biodiversity and climate change adaptation and mitigation. It would be crazy not to look at wild release as a key tool for the government."

When, a couple of weeks ago, I discovered there are hundreds of beavers living wild on the rivers of Kent, I was astounded. But Patrick Barkham confirms those reports here:

An established population has been living freely and largely unnoticed in lowland Kent for years and now numbers 51 territories – more than 200 animals.

And, he says, beavers have turned up on river systems across Devon and spread through Somerset to Wiltshire and Gloucestershire.