Boothby Wildland River Consultations

Image by Charlie Burrell

Boothby Wildland, March 2024

Storm Babet Highlighted the need for Change

For three consecutive days in late October 2023, the local area received high amounts of rainfall as the impact of Storm Babet was widely felt across the UK. For the West Glen River, this resulted in flooding the bridge directly down from Boothby Lodge and breaching its banks in numerous places down the 2km stretch that flows through Boothby Wildland.

With ditches and land drains running at full capacity, large amounts of debris was washed downstream and ‘dumped’ alongside the river, with the public footpath also flooded in parts. The river was described as very ‘flashy’ – it goes from a very low flow to flooding, very quickly.  

One of our main aims in restoring this stretch of the West Glen River is to ‘slow the flow’ and thereby help alleviate flooding downstream. Unfortunately, as our climate changes, we’re likely to experience rainfall events like this more often. So, restoring the West Glen will have many benefits, and by collecting information on the river now – and after our restoration – we’ll be able to show the impact of this work.

By creating wetland areas we can store more water across Boothby Wildland. This will act like a sponge after high rainfall, but will also allow the water to be filtered at the same time. As we’ve seen across the media in recent years, improving water quality is important for both human and wildlife health. With 90% of our wetland habitats lost across the landscape in the last 100 years, this process will also create something incredibly special at Boothby – an oasis in which wildlife is sure to thrive.

We’ve had many experts come to advise us on various modelling options for restoring the river and our proposal was recently shared at a series of public consultations.

The Case for Beavers

We’re exploring the option of reintroducing beavers into a large enclosure on the section of the West Glen River that flows through Boothby Wildland. From helping reduce flooding to improving water quality, beavers can be a major benefit to the landscape. This is an idea that we are hugely excited about and believe will have great benefits for the immediate – and wider – environment around Boothby.

Beavers are the ultimate ecosystem engineers and experts from across the UK are helping us understand how they help transform the landscape. We’re thrilled that the results show these dam-building, semi-aquatic animals can deliver our vision to ‘slow the flow’ of the West Glen. Beavers help restore rivers by reducing flood risk at the same time as improving water quality, while also creating a fabulous wildlife habitat.

Drawing on the expertise of the University of Exeter, reintroduction expert Derek Gow and the Beaver Trust, we’ll continue to explore options. If we are granted a license for an enclosed beaver release, then our plans will mean that Boothby Wildland will be home to the largest beaver enclosure in the UK.

To read more about the need for river restoration – and the role of beavers – read the Article by Site Manager Lorienne Whittle here.

Consultation Responses

We’re delighted with the response we’ve had to our 2024 public consultation events, so thank you to everyone who’s participated. These events ranged from site walks and talks for neighbouring land owners, a public event in Ropsley Village Hall, and an evening event online. It’s important to us that we’re providing every opportunity to engage and consult with local people.

In total more than 80 people attended across the events and many more have followed up separately. It was a privilege to be joined by Hannah Dale, whose family reintroduced beavers to an enclosure on their transitioning arable farm in the north of the county late last year. Hannah’s experience with their journey to get an enclosed release license – and then the practicalities of everything from fencing to match making beavers – really added to our collective understanding.

There was ample opportunity for the Nattergal team to explain the developing plans, including the provision of more permissible routes across the Wildland, as well as the river restoration need and our solutions for it.  

Engaging with local people is an ongoing process and an integral part of our journey. So while the official consultation feedback has closed, please get in touch with us to talk more about developing Boothby Wildland.