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Beavers & Natural Flood Management

The story so far...

Our local village, Finchingfield, floods occasionally, and sometimes the water even makes it way into peoples homes and businesses. When it does this is causes chaos, expense and a great deal of upset to those affected. In October 2001 the most severe flooding in recent memory occurred, causing significant damage.


However, as only around 18 properties in the village are listed as being at risk of flooding, it isn't possible for the authorities to fund traditional "hard" engineering defences. Flood risk money is tight, and often needs to go to schemes that protect hundreds of homes and thousands of people, which puts Finchingfield at the bottom of the list. The historic nature of the village, and the fact that many of the at risk properties lie within a conservation area, further restricts what can be done for individual households to reduce their risk of flooding. 

So, in 2018, Spains Hall Estate and the Environment Agency began developing a natural flood management scheme. Instead of 'hard' engineering involving diggers and concrete, the plan was built around natural materials and nature-based approaches to reducing flood risk. Natural Flood Management, as it is known, has a growing acceptance in UK flood risk management and was the method of choice for Finchingfield.

In 2023 a further four beavers were released into two new enclosures.

Tours availability and booking

Project Q and A

  • How many beavers do you have?

    In the 2019 enclosure 2 Eurasian beavers were introduced, a male and female. They have since bred and we now have a family of 7 beavers. 


    In 2022 two more enclosures were constructed and a pair of beavers intorduced into each in early 2023. We now have about a dozen beavers in 3 different enclosures.

  • How big are the beaver enclosures?

    The 2019 enclosure covers 4 hectares (or 10 acres) and is almost entirely woodland.


    The two 2022 enclosures are ten times the size, a total of 40 hectares (100 acres) and run along the valley of the Ficningfield Brook. There is almost 2km of river within the new enclosures, surrounded by woodland, farmland and grassland. 


    We now have 44 hectares of beaver enclosure on the estate, one of the largest areas in the country. 

  • Are there any trees left in the beaver woodland?

    Yes! 


    If you check out the videos and photos of the enclosure you can see that it is still a woodland. The beavers do fell trees, but they do so selectively, and slowly. 

  • Do you have any videos of the beavers?

    Yes! 


    We have a lively YouTube channel which we try to add new vidoes to regularly. 

    Also, check out our socials for up to date news and videos. 

  • Have the beavers flooded the whole enclosure?

    No...not yet! 


    Since March 2019 we reckon that around 15% of the oringinal enclosure has become wetland. Our clever partners at Atkins and Kings College London calculate that the beavers are storing around 2.5 million litres of water, about the same size as an Olympic swimming pool holds!

  • What are leaky dams?

    Essentially they are piles of wood in a ditch or watercousre. In our case they are very straight, and pinned in place to stop them being washed away. They are leaky because we use trees, rather than sawn wood, so the edges are wonky and don't fit together well, leaving gaps for the water to flow through. 

  • Has the project worked?

    Probably...


    We are still working with our research partners to measure flood flows, water storage and other things to assess the full impact of the beavers. However, we are confident enough in the early findings (from 4 years of pilot work) to commit to building much larger enclosures where more beavers can create more wetland. 


    Residents of Finchingfield have told us that they believe the flooding is less severe since the project started, so that's a great result!

  • Can I visit the project, or see the beavers?

    Absolutely, we love showing people round!


    Book your tour or beaver watching visit here

The Pilot Project...

2018 was spent researching other natural flood management (NFM) projects and other sites with a special ingredient. Spains Hall Estate Manager, Archie, became aware of the impacts Eurasian beavers were having at a number of sites around the UK. Specifically, in enclosed (fenced) release sites where they seemed to be transforming drained and degraded landscapes into watery wonderlands which slowed flows, cleaned water and provided homes for myriad other wildlife. Having visited some sites in Devon (and here), speaking to the people managing these projects and learning more about the nature and water benefits, Archie became convinced that beavers could offer a low cost, expert, solution to the problem in his corner of North West Essex.

Luckily, the Estate's project partners, were delighted to support the release of beavers into a fenced enclosure upstream of Finchingfield to test whether they could thrive in a lowland agricultural landscape. At the same time the project installed 8 leaky timber dams, made from wood from the estate, to provide an immediate flood risk benefit.


So the project became a pilot to test and compare beaver engineering with man-made natural engineering.

Check out the explainer video below.

On 14th March 2019 a pair of Eurasian beavers were released into a woodland enclosure upstream of Finchingfield.


On 17th March 2023 a further two pairs of beavers were introduced to two new, larger, enclosures on the main Finchingfield Brook.


Results of the pilot project...

As you can see from the images, maps and data below the beavers have made an incredible impact on their woodland. But it's not all about the beavers.


The river valley where the timber leaky dams were installed has also been reconnected with it's floodplain. So that in heavy rain water can once again spread out and be stored across the fields as nature intended.

The Beaver enclosures

Move the slider to see how the beaver enclosure has changed

These pictures were taken just 2 years apart on the course of a spring which the beavers dammed.

The large pile of sticks and mud (middle right) in the 2020 picture is the beaver lodge.

Slow the Flow Finchingfield

In partnership with the Environment Agency, Essex and Suffolk Rivers Trust, Atkins and Essex Wildlife Trust the Estate have put together a Natural Flood Management Project for the land above Finchingfield. 


Whilst it sounds grand it actually means installing a number of ‘leaky dams’ in ditches, bunds to redirect water coming off fields and allowing water back onto old water meadows. We hope this will help reduce flooding in Finchingfield and on our local roads. 

See for yourself

You can visit the project by joining one of our guided tours or by booking a guided wilidfe  watching trip


Check out upcoming public tour dates here.


If you have a group that you would like to bring along please contact us to arrange a date or book one of the available dates online.



Nature's engineers

The first beavers to return to Essex for over 400 years now live on the Estate. They live in three specially consturced fenced enclosures, covering a total of 44 hectares. 


They are being given free reign to alter their enviornment by building dams, flooding areas, cleaning water, trapping silt and generally doing what beavers do!


We hope that their activity will make the woodland and floodplain a better place for wildlife, holding water during times of flood and releasing it slowly once rains have passed. Their dams will act as slow release reservoirs during times of drought, helping to keep water flowing throughout the year where it used to dry up. 

Soft engineering solutions to flood management

Upstream of Finchingfield, on the Finchingfield Brook, we have installed 8 man-made timber leaky dams. 


Leaky Dams are stacks of wood are designed to hold back water after heavy rain, but not impede flows under normal circumstances (or prevent fields from draining). In addition, these small wooden structures force flood water out of the ditches and onto our meadows, giving it space and slowing it down.

Water flow, water quality and other measurements

We have installed a number of flow and water quality measurement devices (such as the ones pictured). These take automatic measurements and beam them to the cloud where experts can track and assess the data. In terms of the biology of the water, and the beaver woodland, we plan to carry out before and during surveys to record the changes in habitats and species. 


There are now 3 different types of monitor on site. Two of which report directly to the cloud so you can view the data.


Annual Ecohydrological surveys of the 2019 beaver enclosure have also been recorded since 2018 (before the beavers were introduced). 

Managing a precious resource

In addition to leaky dams and beavers we are fortunate to have great farming businesses working on the Estate. Amongst them we have some of the most careful and knowledgeable soil managers in the area. They monitor their soil condition, drill seed and apply fertilizer and pesticides carefully and, in one case, only drive machinery over only 17% of the field area. This means that immediately upstream of Finchingfield the soil health is contributing to holding back water, trapping carbon and providing valuable habitat.

Local live weather data

We're British, we love talking about the weather! It's also really important to know what local weather conditions to inform the data being collected on river flows as they rise and fall. As an extra bonus you can access the weather data being collected. 

Project and other interesting photos

View photos taken as we progress with the project, as well as some other interesting bits and pieces!


For live stream video click here

For our YouTube channel click here


Check out our YouTube channel

We regularly visit the beaver enclosure and other parts of the flood project - check out the videos on YouTube

Description Title

Read our response to the 2021 Beaver Consultation

Information, Tours, Bookings and Resources

Project Aims

18

Properties at risk of flooding

13

Hectares of habitat improved

£89,000

Project Budget (40% cash)

2

Km of watercourse improved

Partners

by Archie Ruggles-Brise 15 Nov, 2023
Natural England report makes use of data and insights for national report
by Archie Ruggles-Brise 06 Jul, 2023
‘Whole farm reservoir’ approach featured in industry publications
beaver dams can store up to 23 million litres
by Archie Ruggles-Brise 21 Jun, 2023
‘Whole farm reservoir’ approach at Spains Hall estate could store millions of litres per hectare in soil
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