‘Ultimate bringers of life’: How one Cornwall farmer is using beavers to stop flooding | Wildlife

Chris Jones, a beef farmer, is very proud of his conviction. He says, “They are just an unusual.”

Since the launch of a couple in the box on Cornwall In 2017, he says they saved it from drought, prevented floods in the nearby village, and strengthened the local economy and even the shellfish beds in the Gulf of Walaloth.

The rodents, which were hunted for extinction in England hundreds of years ago because of their fur and their and a common feature of our rivers. They may be soon again, after the government announced on Friday that it would agree to The first landmark versions In England for hundreds of years.

Walking on the edge of the Johns farm, you can feel that the soil begins to get inhibitors. Loiled grass blades – ideal for its livestock – grow about the spread of fat from the frog as a group that slowly allows wetlands.

That, along with half -will -to -ground branches on the ground, is a sure sign that you are entering the world.

You can walk more and you can hear the gentle flow of water that moves through the series of dams built by serious rodents, and seeing glass swimming pools around trees covered with trees. At the top of the box, there is a great pool, including two pepper housing. This spouses clearly decided that he needed two houses. “I am not sure of what The tax situation of the council It is for them, “Juns Juns.

The bondage was one day wet pasture and became a wildlife area with the blessing – although the rodent residents were about a third of its current size. Jones said: “I still bring the animals to spoil sometimes, especially when they are dry,” Jones said. “There is no conflict between cattle and the beaver.”

Amazing habitats, with wetland areas of different depths and wandering the water flowing at different speeds. There are shallow areas lined with gravel that make perfect fish nursery, and lush plants that will become tinnitus with invertebrate life in the spring. It is clear that the birds love them – while we walk in the past, a wooden sensation of the bush and fly.

But Jones is not satisfied with this amazing habitats. He is eager to edit the stairs for him. “This really mail seal,” sighs. If we can allow them to go out, we can get this landscape to the sea. Water companies and Environment Agency It should be everything. “

This is because the channels work on the free water treatment facility. Our rivers are overcome with nitrates and other pollutants from human and animal waste. Researchers from the University of Cambridge studied Jones Farm and found that the river that feeds from the bench container had 80 % lower levels of nitrates compared to more than that.

Although farmers like Jones can have the bodies in containers on their lands, there was some illegal release in England, it has not yet been legal in the wilderness.

Jones was on the farm throughout his life. Initially, beef and dairy products were, and now raises cattle cattle. The farm has always been organic, which they attribute to his father’s old -style agricultural methods, before pesticides are prevalent. Since the farm grabbed 20 years ago, Jones moved from membership to grass only-and began to seriously redistribute.

He proudly says: “I have doubled the soil carbon since I started to restore the soil.” “I do not cut my hedges, and 60 % of the farm is now agricultural – the cows roaming around the trees. This leaves the grass without an hindrance that gives habitats to small mammals, such as mice and mice. This in turn brought the prey birds, which feed on them, to the farm. As a result, I saw the Burn album come to the farm for the first time in my life – 65 years.”

He says his farm is economically fruitful as T was before he started restoring nature, “I try to be a product as much as possible while seeing the possibility of re -guidance. We need to eat but we also need a lot and a lot of wildlife. I think we can achieve these two goals.”

Most farmers will tell you that nature has disappeared from the countryside in recent decades. Jones saw this at home since childhood. “I am aware of the wildlife that we lost over the years, especially the types of birds that have just gone, Curlews and Gray Partridge, for example,” he says. “It is sad. But this seems to restore something and make a simple difference.”

The presentation of the channels was a natural progress. Jones started searching for what other farmers are doing and coincided with some writing by the UK leadership Bever Guru Derek Joe. “It looked as if getting the Quddas was irrational. It made the river more interesting, increasing biological diversity, which is useful for fish and reduces floods. It seemed as if we could really be able to turn a turbine charge what we were already doing.”

So contact GOW and decided to build the beaver container at home with the help of Cornwall Wildlife Trust and some scientists at the University of Exter. Jones says, “The Qudsus was released in 2017,” Jones said.

Jones Jones have helped a lot in recent years. In 2022, England suffered a severe dryness, which means that the grass is dried and many farmers have to give winter nutrition to their livestock as there was nothing to take care of them. Jones did not have this problem. “We poured water from the Bever pool, and in this bad drought we had already we had water in a pool we have more than any other time – the canal built the dam above because they were able to work with the lighter flow of the current.”

Not only Jones and other fanatics from the beaver are the ones who claim about the ability of rodents to create an anti -commodity infrastructure; A Modern report By the government agency, the Environment Agency, in ways to prevent floods, recommended the issuance of the Qanads. They can also save government funds – in the Czech Republic, a family of Quds It was recently built Blind themselves. This infrastructure was due to the government’s cost of one million pounds – and the Quddes did so for free.

Jones says more farmers need to get the Quds. “Some farmers really have their heads in the sand. We really need to adapt to the climate collapse, make our land more flexible. Storing water is part of that – we cannot continue to continue as before.”

He said: “There are some farmers who will see this and have a heart attack. They believed that I was nuts. But first, this is the less agricultural value land, and secondly during drought, they will all be jealous because this is the best grazing in the city.”

The idea of ​​farms that bring the Qudds to the calm countryside disturbed some neighbors and angered others. But most of them came. Jones has calculated that 10,000 people have come to visit Al -Qudhas since 2017 – and they all need places to stay, and bars to eat and drink in them.

“We brought the works to the pub and the village. Jones said:“ Some people hate the Quddes, there are a few dangerous dairy farmers who angry them, and they take the cross tree. Also, the beginning with our neighbor, who runs ride stables, hates the Quds, but then realized that their clients were very happy when they saw Samour on their tour, and even realized that the Qudhasus were already good to work. “

Another benefit that the Jones of Gones brought to the local area is to reduce the floods. “The beaver area contains a huge amount of water, and its leaked dams slow down the flow and prevent the village from flooding.

He should thank the fans of Oysters Falmouth Jones. “Going to the box, you only see the amount of silt that was stored here,” says Jones. “This silt was usually decreased to the river to the family of oyster on the Gulf of Waloths.”

They make Jones happy too. “I sometimes go to the box, sometimes, it’s very good to sit there in the evening and I had some unusually nearby meetings – the channel becomes very curious when I am just and comes directly to me. It was very satisfactory.

“The first time I saw a gun when she was in a cage in the back of the Derek Gao, ready to present it to my farm,” he remembers. “It was just unusual.”

When they were released, Johns felt a luster. “It looked like an incredibly positive thing.”

The Quds did a quick work to restore nature to his farm. “I had no idea how quickly they work, but we have 11 or 12 records for birds, we now have 11 types of bats, 17 of the dragonflies, and increase fish in size. When you see this happens in front of your face, this is unusual. They bring the final life.”

After this initial excitement, the progress was to return the beaver to Cornwall is much slower than Jones. “We wanted to start starting something that ends up with the Qenads via Cornwall. But it took longer than we thought because Defra sat on him for a long time.”

Jones does not stop at the Quds. He wants to return the vaccine to Cornwall after that. “I am part of something called the Cornwall Stork project and we are trying to prepare some worries all over the country. They are completely cool and we have a lot of food for them here – frogs, frogs, locusts and worms.”