Truro and Falmouth Member of Parliament Cherilyn Mackrory has resumed her constituency visit programme with a visit to Cornwall Wildlife Trust’s Cornwall Beaver Project.
The Cornwall Beaver Project has seen an area of plantation woodland along Nankilly water, a stream at Woodland Valley Farm near Ladock fenced to create a beaver enclosure.
Two adult beavers, one male, one female, were released into a pond on-site and have been left to re-engineer the area through dam and canal building.
The impacts of the beavers on water quantity and quality are being monitored by University of Exeter researchers who have had equipment on site for well over a year prior to the release of beavers. Some biodiversity monitoring is also being carried out including habitats, amphibians, bats, some invertebrate groups and fish.
Cherilyn said:
“It was great to get back to physical meetings, albeit socially distant, with a visit to see Chris Jones’s Cornwall Beaver Project with the Cornwall Wildlife Trust.”
“Apart from the merits of reintroducing a native species like the beaver to its original natural habitat, there is also a myriad of potential in looking at the natural work to alleviate flooding in the area that could provide a natural solution to this tricky issue in the future.”
“This is a truly remarkable project, it was good to actually see the beavers in the light of day, and my thanks to Chris for having me.”
“I look forward to seeing the project continue and depending on the results there certainly could be the potential to reintroduce them in other suitable sites in Cornwall too.”