This exponential increase in these rodents will eventually cost billions. Not to mention future reliance on importing more food as a result of our inability to produce it here. Ironically, many parts of the green agenda are the biggest threat to our economy and our environment.

I’m a farmer, we have beavers in the area & I am very pleased we do. Farmers need to work out a way to manage land in harmony with nature not consider it a threat. We are entering a new paradigm in land management & the choice will be either work with nature or exit the industry

I have worked with nature all my life and am proud of all the lap wings, oyster catchers and curlews etc that are here. That’s happened because of a managed balance and good farming practice. This is different, as there is no understanding of the eventual cost to our taxpayers.

@DougWanstall There is more to nature than ground nesting birds. You can’t cherry pick which bits of our natural heritage belong and which don’t. If we’d hunted curlews and lapwings to extinction, as we did with beavers, they’d merit reintroduction just the same.

@DougWanstall Strange statement, there is no conflict with the aforementioned. 400 years ago there was only 500m people on the planet, there is now 16 times that and we need to play our part in helping to feed that growing population. In global terms we can do that more sustainably than most.

@matthay44 @DougWanstall Simple. Plant based diet feeds humanity & 30% of land 4 nature. We need to end centuries of obliteration of wildlife by rich landowners.

I agree that is a very simple way to look at it. No doubt plant based diets would be far better for the environment and no doubt we need to see significant changes in land management to reverse the damage done by industrial agriculture. BUT giving up all meat is not a pragmatic solution, if you believe it is, just look at the % of veganism globally, it may be edging up but not at a pace that exceeds increased consumption.

What complete and utter nonsense. I am always astounded when videos like this turn at the end to tell taxpayers that the fictitious bill for non existent nonsense is coming their way when tax payers are already paying their narrators handsomely for simply existing.

How much food is at risk given that 80% cereals grown in Scotland aren’t eaten by people?

Beavers should be found thriving & widespread throughout our countryside. They are biodiversity enablers & help mitigate against some of the extremes found in a climate & nature crisis. Time to have some enlightenment 🦫

But how much will they save? As they beaver away reducing the risk of extreme flooding, extreme drought, increasing fish stocks. Our current land and water management systems are failing us, why shouldn’t we look to more natural impactful ways to deal with the issue?

*Puts on dusty Zoologist hat* Beavers are, overwhelmingly, of benefit to the health of forest ecosystems. This isn't a matter of opinion, it is a well-established fact. With solid management, Beaver enhancements of ecosystems are of huge benefit to farmers. The Scottish Government has a solid licensing system in place, and long-term plan. Time will tell if adjustments are needed, but folks aren't just tipping beavers into the country and hoping for the best. As to their infrastructure impacts - overwhelmingly good when it come to flood risk, and mixed in other respects. Well there are around 15 million beavers in the USA, and their bridges and agriculture haven't collapsed. So leave the beavers to get on with improving the environment and make the most of the licensing system.

Ah so how many trees have farmers cut down? But please cut the hyperbole - Beavers are coming back so work out how to live with them. They will likely cut down flooding - are you against that too?

What is the threat you are pointing at on the far bank?

More evidence, if any were needed, that the NFU sees biodiversity as an inconvenience at best.

Trees in rivers are part of nature, beavers are part of nature, untidiness and chaos are nature, words like ‘green agenda and rodents” pretty much sum up your perspective, millions are sick of the tragic loss in biodiversity, learn to live with nature, not having to control it.

What utter shite.

What utter twaddle, but exactly the kind of thing I've come to expect from @NFUtweets. Beavers provide a range of important ecosystem services with economic benefits, and the costs of beaver management will be far out-weighed by the benefits they provide.

This is utter nonsense, where is the real harm? Thankfully, not all farmers are in this mould, but it shows why we are in such an ecological mess. Just one agenda being pushed to the exclusion of all others.

In a climate and nature crisis, farming and conservation groups should all come together to offer positive solutions that can help mitigate against climate change. Beaver re-introduction is one of those solutions, with appropriate management, that allows solutions.

I appreciate your perspective, but it seems like at a minimum there might be a wee bit of exaggeration or more likely, a complete fiction (others on this thread have already highlighted the reasoning). Being hyperbolic helps no one.

Can you not put mesh guards around the trees you are concerned about? I’ve seen a few around the country.

Hi Mark, Firstly these are not my trees and secondly I don’t think anyone has realised the scale and cost of this. Shouldn’t those who want them here do this? Last night there were 10 beavers in the space of 150m on the banks of the Tay below us. How do you know where to go?

I certainly acknowledge there is more conflict with beavers on the Tay than other catchments, that’s why the management strategy is important. Maybe conservation volunteers would be interested in supporting landowners fit tree protection where there are problems.

@MartinKennedyVP Beavers felling trees is no more a conflict in Tayside than anywhere else. In fact tree felling is not entirely negative hence why it’s not universally accepted as a conflict.

@MartinKennedyVP That’s a fair point especially with trees that can survive and regrow or when they are felled can contribute to other objectives like wetland creation. Options to protect individual trees exist.

Fortunately many in the country think differently about Beavers being found widespread and thriving throughout Scotland. What are your thoughts Martin on the return of the Lynx to Scotland ?

Mate, if it's a choice between you and the beavers, we'll choose beavers

Martin, I love farmers, love farming, come from farming stock, but really you're doing us now favours. Your ignorant ranting may make you feel pleased with yourself but it's turning the public against you and farmers. Stop, please.

for hundreds of thousands of years when we had healthy populations of Beavers, our land was covered by trees. So basically beavers are not a threat to trees.

Martin, beavers are incredibly good for the environment. They create wetlands, improve the water cycle, create habitat for every kind of insect, mammal, reptile, amphibian imaginable. We people, we benefit from this in a thousand ways. Let's support rewilding efforts.

Sorry but if there is a genuine threat to farming here, you’ve done a very poor job of explaining what it is. Just looks like an angry man pointing fingers!?!

Counterpoint: No, it won't.

We waste 9.5 million tonnes of food a year, its not our inability to produce food thats a problem thats a red herring

Says man working in one of the least sustainable aspects of UK farming. Self interest much...?

Well said, why would anyone think that introducing beavers 🦫 to Scotland without being able to easily manage them was ever going to work. They are having a serious impact on the viability of businesses in some areas.

Live with nature not against Martin. Beavers were there before us. Ask for relocation of the beavers if they are a problem to you personally, otherwise you just sound selfish. And they help with water run-off, the excess of which will cost more billions than you could dream of 🤷🏼‍♂️

Why not use it as an opportunity to diversify, start doing beaver tours on your land, get the public in, The Happy Beaver Tea room etc etc, encourage and "exploit" (in the best possible way) nature to your own advantage

Great advert for the @NFUtweets in Scotland

"Who's paying for it" let's also ask: What % of a "Hill livestock farmer" income is taxpayer subsidies? What % UK meat consumed from hill farms? How much do they reimburse to flooded homes downstream of their bare uplands? What is black loss %? Not a good return on tax £..

Sounds like head of Scottish NFU is head-banging Ukiper😥 UK is 7th most wildlife trashed nation on earth. Largely due to NFU reactionaries. U have wiped out almost every wild animal that co-occupied this land with us. Plenty of food & 30% land 4 nature if diet is plant based

The comments in response to this @NFUtweets tweet show why so many decent, nature-loving farmers are so intensely frustrated with the conduct of the NFU

@argatyredkites Martin raises some good points here. Where beavers are working up river in tributaries they obviously provide a benefit, like at Argaty. However when they get into massive stretches of water like this, the risks are huge. What can be done to mitigate this?

Happy Christmas 🎄 Yule need a log 🪵 or two for the fire 🔥