What's great about Beavers and Pine Marten?
Species Recovery Officer Matt Phelps' job involves splitting his time between coordinating Beaver and Pine Marten work across Sussex, as well as writing a Species Recovery Strategy for the Trust, reviewing whether it is appropriate to restore ecosystem engineer and keystone species to Sussex.
We asked him to tell us a bit more about a couple of aspects of this new role
What’s great about Beavers and Pine Marten?
Beaver and Pine Marten are two species that we know were widespread across Sussex and the rest of the UK until a few hundred years ago, when they were persecuted and hunted to extinction (or near extinction) by humans.
Both are thankfully now making a comeback, albeit rather slowly, and a large part of my role will be to plan and coordinate where and how they might return in Sussex.
These are two of the most charismatic mammal species in Europe, but also perhaps two of the most misunderstood. They bring back so much ecosystem diversity and richness to the places where they are recovering in numbers; Beaver through their brilliant wetland creation work and Pine Marten through rebalancing woodland food chains, for example through reducing the presence and negative impacts of non-native species such as Grey Squirrel. As Chris Jones from the Beaver Trust says, our relationship with nature in the UK has been broken for a long time, and the widespread return of species such as Beaver and Pine Marten to our landscapes should be heralded as the return of some of that lost wildness to our wetlands and woodlands.
Define ‘ecosystem engineer’ and ‘keystone species’ for us and tell us why they matter.
Ecosystem engineer is a term given to any species which directly changes or impacts the environment in which it lives, either negatively or positively. A good example of this is the way in which Beavers will dam streams to create the deep-water wetland networks in which they like to live. Ecosystem engineers can often also be described as keystone species, although it is possible for a species to be one or the other but not both.
A keystone species is one which has knock-on effects to other species and kickstarts natural processes in a landscape. Again, to use the same example, the Beaver is a keystone species as well as an ecosystem engineer because it restores these incredibly rich and diverse wetland landscapes which then offer so many opportunities to other wildlife such as waterbirds, invertebrates and fish, as well as providing other benefits such as flood mitigation and drought resilience. It is this process-led recovery of complex lost habitats and species communities within them which make ecosystem engineers and keystone species so important – and the best thing is once they’re up and running they essentially do all this amazing work for nothing!
Comments
Very touched by this
21 Dec 2023 11:49:00
Great news on the appointment . Good to know we are looking to undo some of our previous mistakes in persecuting some species to near extinction. Best of luck – you have my full support
21 Dec 2023 12:11:00
Looking forward to hearing more about target area for beavers and pine martins in Sussex . Hoping some of the remaining ancient woodland of the high Weald might suit our pine Martin friends . When might we be able to learn a little more about any reintroduction plans?
21 Dec 2023 12:46:00
Delighted to see the Beavers at Knepp are hard at work and news of their offspring is very exciting/ our own local reintroduction.
21 Dec 2023 13:38:00
Beavers at Knepp? Now that’s an achievement!
21 Dec 2023 14:22:00
Good luck with your new appointment, such a worthwhile and important project. What could be better than reintroducing two species that we humans virtually destroyed years ago and, in fact, do so much good.
21 Dec 2023 21:06:00
Delighted to hear about this development
25 Jul 2024 10:37:00
We humans have wrecked the planet and we desperately need the help of our colleagues, beaver, pine marten, bison etc to start putting things right. We can’t do it alone! Successes such as Yellowstone and the Hartz demonstrate that this is doable. Public engagement is the critical first step.
25 Jul 2024 10:39:00
i think this is a brilliant idea and i will do what i can to help them
25 Jul 2024 10:49:00
Good morning,
Reading the book and visiting Knepp Rewilding, I am inspired greatly. Let us see where it all goes.
Just one other comment, having lived in northern Germany for many years where pine martins are widespread I remember many issues with these mammals getting into cars and literally eating parts of tubes, pipes and causing huge damage … and of course danger. Also they often got into people’s lofts, reproduced and were very difficult to rehouse. I recall hearing their screeching in the middle of the night; somethings that if they were very common in this area would not be popular with the general public. I would be interested to learn of your thoughts.
25 Jul 2024 10:57:00
Sussex Wildlife Trust:
The story about damage to cars in Germany, etc, relates to Stone or Beech Martens Martes foina rather than Pine Marten Martes martes.
Pine Martens can and do sometimes den in inhabited or uninhabited buildings, but usually only if there is a scarcity of alternative denning sites. Part of our ecological feasibility work in Sussex and Kent as part of the South East Pine Marten Restoration Project will be to look at the availability of old trees for denning sites, as well as working with landowners to install artificial den boxes, to which the animals will often take readily.
More information on Pine Martens in houses can be found here: scotland-pine-marten-leaflet.pdf (vwt.org.uk)
I would love to see these creatures back in Sussex
25 Jul 2024 11:02:00
Great idea to correct the wrongs of our forefathers, especially bringing the pine martin back. Perhaps they will make a long overdue dent in our grey squirrel population!
25 Jul 2024 11:07:00
I have made it clear before now (and at some length) that I think it is crucial that the reintroduction of the pine marten should ONLY be considered when we have a viable population of all ground-nesting birds throughout our area. The idea that the pine marten is largely confined to woodland is entirely wrong. The pine marten is a very adaptable and versatile predator; it ‘hung on’ in the wildest and most open of country when it was being most persecuted, and now, in the Highlands, is so common that consideration has been given to ‘translocating’ individuals because their active predation is seriously threatening the survival of the ground-nesting capercaillie.
In any case, they do spread rapidly, and as it seems that they have now reached the New Forest, my worry is that they will actually get here sooner than they would under a formal reintroduction.
I do hope that the problems pine martens create wherever they are, will be taken seriously by the Sussex Wildlife Trust; the common obsession with predators in so many quarters is leading to serious errors of judgment.
Robin Noble.
25 Jul 2024 11:10:00
Sussex Wildlife Trust:
Hi Robin.
Pine Martens have been present in the New Forest for a minimum of 20 years and until recently nobody even really noticed they were there. Talking to Marcus Ward at Wild New Forest recently, I actually asked him about birds and Pine Martens and he said there have been no discernible impacts on any bird species breeding in the Forest. Similarly, Goshawks have increased massively down there (and in Sussex too) with no noticeable impact on other birds.
Thanks
Matt
Fantastic news!! To see these animals re-claim their natural status, and re-establish themselves would be just amazing. The help they can provide should not be underestimated. Beavers in particular are brilliant engineers!
Good, good, good!!
25 Jul 2024 11:15:00
I was convinced that I fleetingly spotted a pine marten earlier this year at the top of Jacobs Ladder, at Burpham, near Arundel. Could this have been the case? It moved far too fast for me to get a photo, but it was the right size and shape and colouring to be a marten.
25 Jul 2024 11:24:00
Sussex Wildlife Trust:
I would say very unlikely but not impossible! Some people think they may already have sneaked their way into West Sussex from Hampshire but we are still awaiting our first confirmed sighting. We will log it as a 'possible' anyway.
So uplifting to know that there are such great rewilding programmes in our local area; thanks to all the people and organisations working so hard to bring back nature and better manage our environment.
25 Jul 2024 11:29:00
Excellent to hear about this appointment. Hopefully we may see beavers in the locality of Crowhurst where their introduction could support natural flood management.
25 Jul 2024 11:29:00
Good luck in your new post, however, I think the idea of reintroducing species needs careful consideration to include the demands on modern life. The rising human population and subsequent house/factory/office building is already impacting on flood areas, food demands etc. Sussex is beset with planning applications, many of which are being fought valiantly by local residents. We can’t turn the clock back & whilst it’s a beautiful memory of past countryside sadly it has issues today that may not be compatible with reintroducing beaver. Our rivers & coastline are polluted with sewage & until we have these standard environmental issues addressed then I am unsure if inviting any living thing to forge an existence in such mess is reasonable. The situation with much of our wildlife is the diminishing level. This mainly due to our poor respect for the environment. I’m not convinced that we are heading toward a sustainable environment when we have species that are declining at a rate of knots due, in the main, to lack of suitable habitat and food. Rather than reintroducing I think it would be more appropriate to focus on how we can avert the rapid progress to extinction of our native flora and fauna. We don’t seem able to sustain what we already have.
25 Jul 2024 11:40:00
Sussex Wildlife Trust:
Beavers are already back in the UK and have been for 25+ years. There are now over 2,000 beavers living wild in the Britain, with perhaps as many as 400 in Kent alone! Regardless of any talk of reintroduction, they are back now and continuing to spread, and we need to talk about co-existence.
The Beavers have proven they can adapt very well to all the challenges of our modern landscapes, now we need to think about how we continue to live happily alongside them, while enjoying all the incredible benefits they bring to wetland ecosystems, as well as the benefits to us of course – which includes improving water quality and reducing flood events, funnily enough.
I have written before about Sussex Wildlife Trust not giving the other side of the case for introducing beavers. Beaver dams are being removed throughout Europe and in the UK. The prime concern is that dams prevent endangered fish species from reaching the headwaters of their native rivers in order to reproduce. Secondly, they spend their lives destroying trees and bankside saplings which have been planted to effect shade over spawning grounds. They might be the “plat de jour” for those who see them as “cuddly creatures” but it really is important that you show balance. If you doubt my word, look on You Tube or the wild trout trust website.
25 Jul 2024 11:48:00
Sussex Wildlife Trust:
You might be interested to read this study which concluded that the presence of Beavers in rivers and streams actually benefits Brown Trout: The response of a brown trout (Salmo trutta) population to reintroduced Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber) habitat modification (beavertrust.org)
It’s also important to stress that Beavers don’t destroy trees, they coppice them; a practice which our ancestors copied using bladed tools, because they realised the potential for timber to be harvested in this way and that it would continually regenerate.
It is great that Matt is looking at this on our behalf! It is an exciting prospect that we might have these animals back.
25 Jul 2024 12:31:00
It’s great to see beavers back, working, enjoying and improving their surroundings! However, despite the fact that\ pine martens were once plentiful, that was at a time when al wildlife was more plentiful and the eco system was balanced. Now, it’s completely unbalanced. They may take squirrels, but also predate eggs and young birds which are already depleted and have a tough enough time trying to survive with less habitat, food, on-going climate change etc… They are easy pickings to a pine marten. I don’t agree with re-introducing an apex predator, given the changes and disruption that has been caused to the normal balance of things.
25 Jul 2024 12:40:00
Sussex Wildlife Trust:
Predators can often act as a balancing impact in an ecosystem and it’s in fact the loss of most of our larger predators which has contributed to the overall fragility and imbalance in nature in many cases. Think Wolves in Yellowstone for the kind of top-down benefits which predators can bring to depleted landscapes. Of course, thoroughly assessing the availability of suitable food for Pine Martens is a key part of the ecological feasibility work which is ongoing at our possible release sites at present. Pine Martens will eat what is most abundant in the landscape which is generally seeds, fruits and small mammals. They may occasionally take a bird egg if they find one but they don’t go out specifically looking for them and camera trap studies in Scotland have shown they are far less effective raiders of birds nests than say Foxes or Badgers.
The pine marten is an interesting choice.
Back in the 1960s we would holiday in a cabin in the Western Highlands where we were regularly visited by a family of pine martens. They would come ambling up the dirt pathway to play on the wooden verandah while waiting for us to drop scraps of food out of the window!
They look a bit like weasels, only much, much larger and with a distinctive white ‘bib’ marking on the chest. I doubt a grey squirrel would stand much of a chance against one of those.
25 Jul 2024 13:12:00
Many thanks for the update. Wishing you every success . Member SWT 77885
25 Jul 2024 14:06:00
You might want to wait until Southern Water have stopped pumping untreated sewage into the waterways before you start reintroducing beavers…
25 Jul 2024 14:38:00
Astounding and such incredible works on reintroducing. So fascinating really that the red squirrels are wiser. Must be in their native DNA. A salute to the Beavers and Pine Martins and to this iniative – Bravo!
25 Jul 2024 15:25:00
Great idea!
25 Jul 2024 16:01:00
Any dates as to animal introduction please
25 Jul 2024 16:17:00
Sussex Wildlife Trust:
In terms of dates for reintroduction, it’s a bit of a ‘how long is a piece of string?’ situation at present, particularly with Pine Marten as we still need to work out where we might source animals from. Similarly with Beavers, catchment-scale releases will require a good number of healthy and genetically diverse animals to kickstart regional populations where there are currently none. I would certainly hope by the end of this decade we will have both Pine Martens and Beavers back living wild in Sussex.
Hello,
We would be open to introducing pine martens into our woodland on our farm. Please could you put me in touch, or point me in the right direction, as I don’t know where to start?
Many thanks.
25 Jul 2024 17:04:00
Sussex Wildlife Trust:
Hi Antonia. Please can you contact me direct? I'll message you my email. Thanks Matt
I think it is naive to think that pine martens won’t detrimentally effect bird populations particular vulnerable species. Pine martens are voracious carnivores.
25 Jul 2024 18:22:00
Sussex Wildlife Trust:
There has been a population of Pine Marten in the New Forest since the early 2000s (at least) and the Forest still supports some of the most significant populations of scarce breeding bird species such as Hawfinch, Tree Pipit, Woodlark, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and Redstart.
This work brings so much hope for the recovery of our much depleted natural environment and species. Well done everyone.
25 Jul 2024 19:11:00
Really hope these introductions go ahead in the very short term. Both such valuable animals in the ecosystem.
25 Jul 2024 19:26:00
Fantastic news!! To see these animals re-claim their natural status, and re-establish themselves would be just amazing. The help they can provide should not be underestimated. Beavers in particular are brilliant engineers!
Good, good, good!!
25 Jul 2024 20:54:00
I am all for rewilding but knowthere are problems for some people. These are udually todo with woves and birds of prey but ther is an anti beaver group in Scotland. Isvthis to do with salmon fishing? I have never had the pleasure of seeing a beaver or a pine martin. Thete are two sides to every story, but 8 am a supporter generally of rewilding
26 Jul 2024 07:27:00
I live in Turkey 5 months of the year. Red squirrels are the only species I have seen out there. The bird population is prolific and I have not witnessed any negative consequences. Not a grey squirrel to be seen.
Peter
26 Jul 2024 15:43:00
YES to Beavers; NO TO pine:Martins, as they are voracious predators
26 Jul 2024 15:46:00
You would never have thought that such a small thing could actually stop flood problems just by doing what they do that is natural, build a dam to create their habitat. It’s a win win all around
28 Jul 2024 16:34:00
Fantastic news!! To see these animals re-claim their natural status, and re-establish themselves would be just amazing. The help they can provide should not be underestimated. Beavers in particular are brilliant engineers!
Good, good, good!!
28 Jul 2024 22:20:00
With regard to the reintroduction of Beavers into the Sussex landscape, yes, perhaps that could be marginally successful given the fact that most landowners affected would have to be sympathetic towards the project- not easily accomplished. But and it’s a big but, the reintroduction in to Sussex of Pine Marten would I fear be an absolute disaster, I have lived in Scotland for the last twenty or so years and have seen first hand the life and habits of this beautiful but very destructive mustelid!
Pine Martens need space, a lot of it, and would not survive well in the Sussex landscape, in fact I would go so far as to say that their introduction would verge on cruelty. I don’t say this lightly but Sussex in todays world is a lot lot different to 100 or 200 years ago., it’s a romantic notion to believe that an extinct species can be successfully reintroduced without huge disruption to other wildlife species. They are voracious predators and ok they may well help to reduce the grey squirrel numbers but at what cost to birds and other small mammals !
Please think carefully before embarking on such a costly romantic notion.
Sussex wildlife trust can do better than this, economically putting monies into other sensible conservation projects.
Kind regards.
Christine
29 Jul 2024 15:44:00
Sussex Wildlife Trust:
Pine Martens have been present in the New Forest for a minimum of 20 years and until recently nobody even really noticed they were there. Talking to Marcus Ward at Wild New Forest recently, we asked him about birds and Pine Martens and he said there have been no discernible impacts on any bird species breeding in the Forest. Similarly, Goshawks have increased massively down there (and in Sussex too) with no noticeable impact on other birds.
The return of the beaver sounds very good news. But have you any comment on the situation at Stodmarsh NNR in Kent. On a recent visit, the East Grinsead RSPB group noticed several areas where beaver activity is threatening to flood the reedbed and footpaths, which will, if it continues, ultimately destroy this valuable bird nesting area.
06 Aug 2024 18:13:00
Sussex Wildlife Trust:
There is a lot of monitoring work going on there and, where necessary, mitigation options being implemented. It’s a good test case for how to manage living alongside Beavers in that sort of landscape, especially as the beavers are not really building dams there.
More info can be found in the recently published Natural England report on the Kent population: NECR559 Edition 1 Assessment of wild living beaver populations in East Kent - NECR559 (naturalengland.org.uk)