As ecological engineers, beavers benefit countless other species by creating and enhancing dynamic and diverse wetland habitats. Since their historic return to Dorset, we have witnessed firsthand just how beavers are positively impacting a variety of wildlife at our licensed enclosed Dorset Beaver Project site and have noticed that birds are flourishing in the beaver-engineered environment.

Beavers benefit birds in several ways. Their activities expand wetland habitats and enhance foraging, nesting, and breeding opportunities for a diverse range of bird species. We have recorded over 40 different bird species since the project began in 2021 and have seen an increase in both the abundance and diversity of birds over the course of the project. A wide range of bird species, from kingfishers and teal to reed warblers and tawny owls, have been recorded. In the past few months, we have captured footage of and heard water rail on site—a species that had not been recorded there until the past couple of years and is now using the habitat regularly.

The primary way beavers influence bird biodiversity is through the new wetland habitats they create and the changes they make to the structure of the riparian zone—the banks and surrounding areas of rivers. This occurs as beavers build and modify their homes, forage, and move through both aquatic and terrestrial environments.

Since the beavers returned to Dorset as part of our licensed project, they have increased the surface area and depths of water across the site and have altered the habitat in a variety of ways. Beavers create dynamic and varied habitats known as ecotones, where a range of habitat types are formed and meet. The beavers have been felling trees to gather woody material for building lodges and dams, as well as for food, feeding around the water’s edge and disturbing the environment.  The presence of beavers means that the water’s edge is constantly shifting and trees and vegetation along the water’s edge are coppiced, creating amazing wet, scrubby woodland habitat. The diversity in the structure of the water, trees, and mud creates excellent opportunities for birds.

The beaver dams raise the water levels and slow the flow of water, creating more food opportunities for ducks such as mallard and teal, as the reduced flow promotes a greater diversity of plants and invertebrates. The impacts of the dams also benefit invertebrates and fish outside of our enclosed site, as they hold back sediment and improve water quality downstream, providing further opportunities for foraging.

Beaver ponds are made up of varying depths, are littered with deadwood, and regularly shaped by beaver activities such as feeding on plants, digging canals, building lodges, and repairing dams. These key aquatic characteristics of beaver ponds, such as large areas of water that vary in depth with gradual edges, provide complex habitat structure that can improve nest concealment, reduce predation, increase food production, and provide a diverse range of ecological niches which benefit a wide range of bird species. The ponds created by beaver dams can flood trees and create standing dead wood which attracts even more birds. Standing deadwood may provide increased nesting and feeding opportunities for woodpeckers, nuthatches, and raptors, all of which we have recorded. Woodpecker holes are also used by a range of secondary cavity nesting bird species.

The natural regrowth following beaver felling and coppicing promotes the regeneration of denser, and bushier vegetation which improves foraging and breeding habitat for a wide range of bird species. The felling of trees by beavers also provides a more open and patchier woodland canopy, results in a diverse mix of tree ages, and increases the amount of deadwood on the woodland floor. This more open woodland canopy improves foraging habitat for insectivorous birds such as spotted flycatchers, reed warblers, willow warblers and swifts, which we have recorded during research at our project site. A more open woodland canopy also allows warmth and light to reach the water, creating a better environment for a variety of aquatic and terrestrial vegetation to establish. They also provide foraging, nesting and breeding habitat for invertebrates and fish, which in turn provide prey for birds including grey heron and kingfisher.

Beavers tend to feed in specific areas where they feel safe, known as ‘beaver feeding stations’, which they regularly revisit to eat. The beavers disturb the ground and leave remnants such as gnawed sticks in and around their feeding stations, which provide opportunities for an increase in vegetation diversity, and wet woody habitat for insects and invertebrates, all of which enhance foraging opportunities for a variety of birds. We have recorded numerous bird species using these areas to forage regularly in our enclosed site in Dorset.

We have been lucky enough to record an increasingly wide range and abundance of birds across the project site, reaping the benefits that the beavers can bring. We hope to continue to see an increase in the abundance and diversity of birds not only at our enclosed beaver site, but also across the UK, as these influential environmental engineers slowly return.

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