Overview
- Licences cover releases led by the National Trust at the Holnicote Estate on Exmoor and by Cornwall Wildlife Trust at a central Cornwall site.
- The approvals are the second and third licensed wild releases since the first took place at Purbeck in Dorset in March 2025.
- Each project must operate under a 10-year landscape management plan before a licence is granted, according to Natural England.
- Regulators say 32 proposals potentially meet criteria for wild releases, with 11 already invited to submit full applications.
- Natural England launched the Beaver Considerations Assessment Toolkit this week to map suitability and risks, as officials cite ecosystem benefits and farming groups flag local flooding and crop damage concerns while conservationists push for a faster rollout.