Beavers build dams to prevent floods – that’s what they do!
England (along with many other countries) has quite a lot of floods. But most are not ‘acts of God’. Flooding is serious, as it causes people to live in damp cold homes, and some people even lose their homes, or have insurance premiums go up. Floods also harm pets and wildlife, and result in unsafe electrics. Then if people eventually move back in, often the rivers burst their banks, and floods happen again in the same areas.
- Use peat-free compost. Peat makes up natural bogs, which keeps land uneven to soak up water, and preserves wildlife habitats. Keep cocoa, pine and tire mulch away from pets (could poison, puncture or choke – also keep fresh compost away from pets, as it contains mould.
- Get involved with The Conservation Volunteers to plant more trees on public land. The removal of millions of trees contributes to floods, as they soak up rain (only an online petition stopped the government selling off remaining public forests to industry). See toxic trees and plants to avoid near pets (many trees including yew and oak are toxic to horses).
New Ideas in Flood Protection
Better town planning can go a long way to prevent floods (using permeable paving and green roofs). The city of Portland, Oregon (with similar rainfall levels to us) has a Depaving group that rips up asphalt in unused car parks to replace with green spaces to soak up heavy rain. Even the main supermarket chain has swales (above image) that soak up heavy rain and filter contaminants.
It’s also good to import ideas from The Netherlands, a low-lying country where half the country is at risk of floods. As a result, it has been at the forefront of innovative solutions. In 1953, a storm flooded the entire country resulting in almost 2000 people losing their lives. The country has worked with nature to give rivers more space to flood, and created lakes and parks that transform into emergency reservoirs, if flooding occurs. The ‘Room for the River’ program in the city of Lent has turned a peninsula into a seasonal island, working with nature, instead of against it. These ideas have been imported to New Orleans, which suffered from a heavy flood a few years back.
- Floodsax sandless bags are better than sandbags. These are not heavy, just fill with water and they mould to shape around doors. They are easily disposed off, with no pollution. One Yorkshire warehouse prevented £360K of damage, by switching.
- Water-Gate is a temporary barrier that self-deploys as it rolls out, using water weight to hold it back. The company also makes a Community Flood Kit to help the 1 in 6 homes at risk of flooding.
- Diluvium Flood Barrier (Norway) is a portable solution that sets up in minutes by one or more people. The parts connect to each other and even around corners. The water weight keeps it upright.
Meet the Engineers of the Animal Kingdom!
What Goes On Inside a Beaver Pond? is a beautifully illustrated and fascinating guide to one of our most innovative animals, which are helping to prevent floods across England and beyond. This common species loves to build dams all day long. And this in turns helps to prevent rivers bursting their banks, so the more beavers we look after, the better for everyone! Excellent swimmers and builders, this book follows the journey of a year in the life of a young beaver, as she leaves her family lodge and seeks a new home for herself.
Children will learn how beavers can fell trees with their strong teeth, and create wetland habitats, where they collect food and ward off predators. Learn what daily life is like within a beaver colony, and find educational side panels on beaver behaviour and anatomy.
The Eurasian beaver (the one that lives in England) is a large herbivore that was almost driven to extinction a few hundred years ago, hunted for its meat and scent glands (to make perfume – a few companies still use it in fake vanilla flavouring – castoreum). Due to its importance in building tarns, mires and bogs, we also lost not only beavers but a lot of our native land. In 2022, the government finally gave beavers legal protection, which led to several projects for nature’s engineers to get busy again creating natural wetlands.
The law almost did not get through, after the government inexplicably delayed the law at the last minute. This caused uproar amid conservationists, as all the law does it to make it an offence to capture, injure, disturb or kill beavers, or damage resting and breeding sites. Thankfully the law did pass, so now beavers are safe. If concerned the law is not being upheld for beavers (or any wild creature), report anonymously at Crimestoppers.
Why Pheasant Shooting Causes Floods
Millions of beautiful pheasants are bred each year, simply to be shot on private estates. As well as being unkind, the industry means that many pheasants (who have no road sense) are killed or injured each year by cars, and decimate sand lizard populations (due to being over-bred). In Asia, pheasants naturally roost in trees where they eat seeds, berries, insects and leaves (they have a very distinctive loud croaky call).
But did you know also that over-breeding pheasants lead to flooding? This is because heather is burned to make the land flatter for birds to run on, and this stops the land absorbing heavy rain. The constant quest to level the ground means that peatlands (uneven bogs that absorb water and support endangered wildlife) disappear. Campaigners want better alternatives also to non-biodegradable clay pigeon shoots (like opening up country estates for visits, which would retain income and jobs, without harm).
Burning spaghnum moss and other plants also prevents storage of carbon dioxide (a process that takes thousands of years). This in turn creates wildfires, which can harm adders, toads and badger cubs. There is presently a voluntary ban on burning heather, but due to vested interests of landowners (often friends with MPs), the government has delayed action. Former RSPB director Mark Avery says that grouse shoots also endanger mountain hares (killed, as they carry mites that affect grouse). And some suspect endangered hen harriers are also shot, due to being natural predators of grouse. Pheasants that escape being shot are usually kept captive to release again for the next season’s shoot. Environmental writer George Monbiot wrote how odd it was that during his term as Prime Minister, David Cameron tried to charge NHS patients for walking aids and neck braces (yet froze the cost of gun licenses).
League Against Cruel Sports says that pheasants for shoots are raised like factory-farmed livestock, yet humane slaughter rules don’t apply (many red-legged partridges are raised in the same way as battery hens, in cages the same size as an A4 piece of paper). Millions of birds travel long distances from abroad, to release on shooting estates. Others die naturally in English temperatures (they are Asian, so not used to our weather). Traps set to kill predators can harm badgers and dogs. It’s believed that over 75% of shooters are not skilled enough, so 40% of birds are wounded rather than killed, left to slowly die where they fall.
How to Help Game Birds
- Don’t buy or eat game birds on the menu. As well as supporting the issues above, some may contain lead shot.
- Report upland burning to RSPB. Report illegal activity (to any creature) to Animal Crimewatch or National Wildlife Crime Unit (anonymous, if wished).
- Write to your MP to ask if they vote to prevent hunting (including killing hares and endangered birds of prey). And views on a voluntary (not compulsory) ban on lead shot. See how your MP votes on hunting.
- Often laws don’t get changed for pheasant shoots, because only a few people really own most land. Changing our political system to make it more equal, is likely the way to get laws changed.
