Scottish Beaver Advisory Group Report: September 2024

This shows progression towards an indicator of success that ‘communities across Scotland feel empowered to act in an informed way to promote and benefit from beaver presence’. See progress on indicators of success in Section 6 below.

Despite these successes, some SBAG members have raised concerns about the lack of a pipeline for future translocation sites. NatureScot has already carried out a national spatial analysis to determine a prioritisation of potential translocation sites. However, such prioritisation also needs to be informed by interest in translocations by landowners and the wider community. SBAG members were asked to provide suggestions of potential future translocation sites and NatureScot also circulated an assessment of beaver potential on NatureScot managed national nature reserves (NNRs). Through this process of discussion, Taynish NNR was noted as having high potential for translocation. Yet, it was also noted that there may be poor linkage to other catchments at Taynish and translocated families may become isolated. NatureScot will continue to review the possibility of NNRs hosting beavers where there is sufficient support from surrounding landowners and communities. 

There is still a lack of forthcoming sites on public and private land for beaver translocation. An ongoing difficulty is the need for a pipeline of future translocation sites, the level of work required for effective consultation, and the running costs associated with monitoring and management of beavers. 

To further discuss the challenges faced by landowners and farmers when managing beavers, a special meeting was arranged by NFUS and SLE and held on 24^th June 2024 and attended by NatureScot and Scottish Government officials. This meeting discussed land managers’ general experience of living with beavers, challenges with the licencing scheme, the types of mitigation which are available, and the representation of the voice of land managers in the context of SBAG. The points raised at this meeting were then considered by SBAG as a whole and there was discussion about how to give greater support to those actively managing beavers and also how to hear directly from land managers on topics directly relevant to SBAG work. These steps aim to evaluate the policies in place for beaver mitigation and management, and determine the effectiveness of these policies for those directly affected. 

Mitigation and Management Sub-Group 

Two meetings of the mitigation and management sub-group have been held. The first meeting, which included permanent members, aimed to establish the group’s focus, purpose, and terms of reference (ToR). The group consists of individuals working closely with beavers across a range of stakeholder groups, with a primary focus on Scottish organisations, though it also includes members from across the UK. The group has agreed to hold themed meetings in alignment with the action points in the Beaver Strategy. These themes will cover topics such as the impacts on forestry and woodland creation, the effects on agriculture and flood bank mitigation, and the impacts on infrastructure and other land and water uses. These themed meetings will invite a broader audience, including specialists and land managers with experience in these areas. The first themed meeting, focusing on woodland creation, has already taken place. It featured presentations followed by workshops addressing four central questions. Discussions continued through concept boards open for two weeks after the meeting, allowing for wider consultation. The outcomes will allow SBAG to advise on the development of policy regarding forestry and riparian planting. 

There is widespread agreement that opportunities to test and fund various mitigation options are lacking, and that sharing information and experiences is crucial. The group also recognises the importance of government support, including collaboration across agencies and the integration of policies and grant schemes. The overlap with the fish and fisheries sub-group in reviewing mitigation measures has been acknowledged, with plans for a future themed meeting to address this area.

Fish and Fisheries Sub-Group 

The fish and fisheries sub-group has now met on two occasions and the ToR have been agreed. The membership of the group is drawn from across the UK. The group is in the process of prioritising the agreed actions identified in the ToR. There is broad agreement that the key issue is passability of beaver dams to different fish species, recognising that the effects of beavers (positive and negative) are likely to be very different across different fish species, including between Atlantic salmon and brown trout. The group will consider a draft beaver assessment tool which has been developed in England once it is ready to be circulated to the group. Ideally, a UK-wide assessment method will be agreed.

Fisheries Management Scotland, Marine Directorate and NatureScot have been tasked with developing a short paper on research priorities for consideration at the next meeting. The group has also expressed interest, in parallel with the mitigation and management sub-group, in wider impacts on fish habitat and riparian woodland, due to the extensive efforts across Scotland to provide dappled shade to cool rivers, and the need for landowner support to take this work forward.

Research and Innovation 

Research is still required to learn about how to establish and manage beavers and their impacts in the Scottish landscape. Representatives of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) have raised the issue of genetic diversity at SBAG meetings and circulated a briefing paper on the topic to the group. The briefing noted that the beaver population at Knapdale has a unique genetic diversity, which could be important for boosting the genetic diversity in the beaver population in Scotland as a whole. RZSS are concerned that if there is translocation of beavers of Bavarian origin into Knapdale from other regions, an important source of genetic diversity will be lost. This led to an SBAG discussion about how to best monitor genetic diversity in Scotland and how to improve diversity through translocations. This was noted to be a topic which would be useful for a research institution or university to investigate, and this was communicated to the research and innovation sub-group. 

Research and Innovation Sub-Group 

The research and innovation sub-group have agreed the ToR and ways of working where the permanent members meet at summer and winter meetings and the extended group membership are invited to themed meetings in the Spring and Summer.

The permanent members have met 3 times and have reviewed the list of 19 actions across 9 of the strategies objectives assigned to this group and have reviewed and noted developments and progress with these. The group have considered links across and between sub-groups and other research networks (e.g. with relevant research activity in England, PhD studentships etc).  The group recognise a general lack of representation in the social sciences/discussion of conflict issues and will have a specific themed session on this in Autumn 2024. The group will continue to review and update on progress against the actions and prioritise the themed meetings where there are gaps or there is a need to share new information.

The extended membership group have met once (Spring 2024) at a thematic meeting on Beaver Health, genetics and sample storage. Here the group covered 5 actions, and heard about ongoing work from Natural England on health and disease surveillance and RZSS on beaver genetics. The group discussed the feasibility of using existing platforms such as CryoArks as a database of samples. The sub-group have flagged the link with CREW fundings calls and will make recommendations to NatureScot based on the current priorities.  

Fostering Stakeholder Trust 

Fostering stakeholder trust in Beaver Strategy implementation is a key indicator of success. The Chair of SBAG has endeavoured to create a positive environment for often difficult discussions about topics with a high potential for conflict between stakeholders. SBAG members have fostered a collaborative and respectful approach to working. In order to encourage greater collaboration between SBAG members, a series of site visits were arranged on 25^th May 2024. The aim of the visits was to show a range of beaver impacts, from positive to negative. SBAG members visited Argarty Red Kites, to see a site of recent translocation; a farm to view beaver interactions with agriculture including the installation of a flow device, willow planting and the explanation of CivTech trials for burrow detection; and finally the Stanley Gravel Pit site where there is potential for development as well as interactions with road and rail infrastructure.

These site visits were largely positively received by SBAG members. However, it was noted that the sites visited did not include a landholding with a licence for trapping or lethal control, and therefore the full range of beaver impacts was not demonstrated by the visits. This will be taken into account for future visits, where a site of significant conflict between land uses will also be included.  

Despite the committed presence of a number of SBAG members, some crucial members are not regularly present at the meetings. These members were reminded of their responsibilities in the Beaver Strategy in August 2023 but attendance of all stakeholders whose work will involve beaver responsibilities remains a challenge.  

Communication Sub-Group

The Communications sub-group have focused their efforts on Goal 6 of the Scottish Beaver Strategy 2022-2045 Implementation Plan regarding raising awareness of beavers and their associated benefits. A communication plan has now been produced and this will be considered by SBAG for final approval. NatureScot are refreshing the relevant areas of their website and bringing beaver information into one 'landing page' to simplify access to all information regarding beavers in Scotland. Access to the growing body of information found on the Beaver Management website, supported by Natural England, Natural Resources Wales and NatureScot, will be highlighted on the landing page.

The Beaver Trust and Heart of Argyll Wildlife are progressing delivery by developing educational resources. Beaver Trust now have an education officer supported by Heritage Lottery Funding. They are tasked with developing educational resources in line with the school curriculum in England, but are looking at how this could be adapted for Scotland. This is aimed at developing a suite of resources for children of all age groups.

At the last meeting of the sub-group (August 2024) it was recognised that the availability of translocation sites could be supported by communications to encourage willing landowners to come forward. 

Progress against Indicators of Success 

Conclusions

Within the last year, there has been significant progress against the indicators of success within the Beaver Strategy. There has been positive development through establishing each of the sub-groups listed above and all these sub-groups have now met. Thank you to each of the members of SBAG for their time and commitment as well as each of the facilitators of site visits. 

There are remaining challenges in terms of implementing the Beaver Strategy. There are a large number of individual actions within the Strategy itself, there are significant obligations on each of the responsible actors within the Strategy, and there are limited time and resources to delivery the actions. As a result, the sub-groups, and SBAG as a whole, need to prioritise important actions, work collaboratively towards solutions, and also look wider for sources of funding and methods of management. 

Building trust and understanding between stakeholders who have differing goals and expectations is also a key component of guiding the reintroduction of this important species, and will be crucial in the future work of SBAG. 

Annex - Membership of SBAG