Delamere Beaver Project

The Delamere Beaver Project aims to reintroduce beavers to Hatch Mere nature reserve, in Delamere Forest, in order to facilitate natural process driven management to:
i) Increase biodiversity, improve water quality and chemical composition and reduce sediment load at the reintroduction site;
ii) Enhance the conservation status of the adjacent Hatch Mere SSSI.
Hatch Mere is a SSSI and Ramsar site. However, land use change, causing accumulation of sediment and eutrophication in the mere, drainage, and eutrophication in the surrounding wetlands due to nutrient rich surface run off, threaten the quality and status of the biodiversity on site. The reintroduction of beavers to the site will seek to address both of these issues.