New kits have taken Enfield's beaver family to at least 11, the council says, four years after a pair became London's first reintroduced beavers at Forty Hall.
Enfield’s beaver family has grown to at least 11. Recent monitoring found new kits alongside their parents at the enclosure in Archers Wood, near Forty Hall, Enfield Council said on Tuesday 29 September. (Enfield Council, 29 September 2026)
The council calls it one of London’s most successful species reintroductions. The animals were the first beavers to live in the capital for more than 400 years when a pair was released there in 2022.
From two beavers to eleven
The council and Capel Manor College, which runs Forty Hall Farm, have reported each step:
- March 2022: a pair of beavers is released into a fenced enclosure in Archers Wood on the Forty Hall estate
- September 2023: the first kit is spotted, thought to be the first beaver born in London for hundreds of years, making three (Enfield Council, 28 September 2023)
- March 2024: the project wins £50,000 from the Rewild London Fund to enlarge the site and add cameras, signs and a viewing platform (Enfield Council, 18 March 2024)
- August 2024: four more kits take the family to seven (Enfield Council, 14 August 2024)
- September 2026: at least 11 beavers on the site
The enclosure covers six hectares, according to the council’s 2024 announcement.
Scouts meet their namesakes
To mark the count, the council invited 4th Enfield Beavers, a local Beaver Scout group, for an evening tour of the enclosure. The visit also fell in the 40th anniversary year of Beaver Scouts in the UK.
The children gathered at dusk on the recently built viewing platform. The beavers stayed out of sight, so the group was shown camera footage instead: the animals felling trees, building dams and foraging.
Cllr Andrew Thorp, the council’s cabinet member for communications, said: “Few people get the chance to meet the animals they share their name with, so it was wonderful to welcome 4th Enfield Beavers to our beaver enclosure.”
Why the council wants beavers
The project is part of the council’s natural flood management work. Beaver dams hold water back in dry spells and slow it down after heavy rain. The council says that helps to cut flood risk downstream, in places such as Edmonton.
The dams have also created new wetland, which the council says supports a wide range of other wildlife. The beavers are part of the wider Enfield Chase Landscape Restoration programme, which aims to transform 1,500 hectares of farmland and green space in the north of the borough.
Victoria Beckwith, head of Forty Hall Farm at Capel Manor College, said the college hopes to expand the project. She described the longer-term ambition as “exploring beaver reintroduction”. Neither the council nor the college has published a plan or a timetable for that.
What it means for you
The beavers live in a fenced enclosure, and the council’s announcement does not say whether the viewing platform is open to the public outside organised visits. The council posts motion camera clips of the beavers on its YouTube channel, which is the most reliable way to see them: even an invited group at dusk did not.
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