Plans to return beavers to Scotland have been rumbling on for years. There have been feasibility studies; ecological, legal and economic research has been conducted; trial proposals have been pored over; and national and local consultations held. But still they are not in Britain.
Contrast the reintroduction of the beaver with that of the great bustard, extinct since the 19th century in Britain. Next June, the Great Bustard Consortium, a small, loose-knit coalition of amateur enthusiasts and scientists, chaired by a former policeman and set up only in 1998, will reintroduce the birds to Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, just a year after applying for a licence.
Ben Bradshaw, minister for nature conservation, has given his swift approval. "It will be thrilling if this species of bird could be successfully reintroduced into the UK after so many years of being absent," he says.
The consortium will have achieved what Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) - a government agency armed with the the most comprehensive reintroduction proposal in Europe - has failed to do. After shrinking its beaver reintroduction proposal to a pilot project, SNH applied for a licence to the Scottish executive and was told last December by Allan Wilson, Scotland's deputy environment minister, to go away and do more homework. This homework will be submitted in the next few weeks, after which the executive will make a decision "in due course".
Beavers and great bustards are, of course, different species. One is the largest European rodent, the other is one of the heaviest birds to fly. Otis tarda, the huge turkey-like, deer-sized bird with beautiful plumage and the ability to run across grasslands, was hunted to extinction in Britain. There are scattered great bustard populations across Eurasia, from Portugal to Mongolia, and it is officially classified as "vulnerable" throughout its range. Although there have been attempts to bring great bustards back to Britain - one was a captive breeding project on Porton Down that folded in the 1980s - the species has never been reintroduced.
The beaver, Castor fiber, also once widespread in Eurasia, from Britain to eastern Siberia, was hunted for its fur and scent glands. Beaver became extinct in Britain during the Middle Ages, and in the rest of Europe its numbers dwindled to a few remnant populations at the start of the 20th century. Since 1922, almost all European countries have reintroduced beavers.
Derek Gow, an ecological consultant with experience in establishing beavers in contained conditions in Britain, says: "Great bustards will make great flagship species, but we are really just gardening for them. Beavers are a keystone species in that they engineer living space for other things."
For David Waters, chairman of the Great Bustard Consortium, the bird is indeed a flagship species. "Although it's been 170 years since great bustards nested on Salisbury Plain, they still have strong cultural links with the area, appearing on emblems of Wiltshire. The presence of great bustards here will promote the area in the same way the red kite has in west Wales. Part of the reintroduction criteria is support of the local population. We have always had a groundswell of local support and have never had to prove the point that this is a high-profile project to return a high-profile bird."
So what is different for the beaver in Scotland?
In 1998, SNH held a consultation process to determine national and local support for beaver reintroduction. It showed that 86% of the Scottish population was in favour of reintroduction. Answering the concerns of the minority, SNH reduced the scope of the scheme to a pilot project in Knapdale forest, near Loch Gilphead, at the northern end of the Mull of Kintyre, where a local poll in 2000 produced 64% in favour. Reading the press reports of the time, it is hard to fathom why beavers are still absent. However, those against beaver reintroduction are a powerful lobby.
Craig Campbell, policy manager and secretary of the environment and land use department at the National Farmers' Union (NFU) in Scotland, describes beavers as "big rats". Campbell is dismissive of the research and consultation processes and says: "Where beavers have been reintroduced elsewhere, they have been disruptive and dangerous. These beasties build long burrows under fields, creating voids. If there was an accident, the NFU would claim damages from the Scottish executive. Beavers are omnivorous, eating young trees and crops. The ecology of Scotland has developed for centuries without beavers and they no longer fit in. There is no evidence that they would be beneficial."
Robin Malcolm, who farms land in the area of the proposed pilot project for beaver reintroduction, says: "If you ask 50 people who've come from the south to set up bed and breakfast businesses and three farmers who have been here for generations, you'll get a very biased kind of consultation. We have the best agricultural land in Argyll. There are better places to reintroduce beaver in Scotland."
But Nancy Fraser, a spokeswoman for SNH, says: "If we can't undertake the pilot project we'll never know the answers to questions about beaver reintroduction. There are real environmental benefits to their reintroduction and we see no social, economic or environmental reason for not bringing them back. Beavers are a good thing and we'd be very disappointed if this does not happen."
Ecologist Roy Dennis, who sent a great bustard to the Porton Down project in 1969 and is a founder of the Scottish Beavers Network, is frustrated at the wrangling between the Scottish executive and SNH. "It's a dog's breakfast," he says. "The reintroduction is an experiment and easy to control. I appeal to ministers to bring the agencies together."
The difference, he says, between the reintroduction proposals for great bustards and beavers is that the detailing of the beaver scheme has been made too difficult.
"The way some opposers talk, it's as if SNH wants to bring back brontosaurus to decimate Scotland's forests," Dennis says. "If we can't reintroduce them, it will be a black mark against conservation in Britain. For such a rich country, we are not doing enough for conservation. If we do not reintroduce the beaver, it will be an incredible failure."
More information on the great bustard project at www.greatbustard.com
Scottish National Heritage is at www.snh.org.uk