Beavers at work ... Devon dwellers reveal their flair for fighting floods

After a 400-year absence, the industrious rodents are back. On a river near Okehampton their reintroduction has led to biodiversity and cleaner water

"Look at these teeth marks!" Professor Richard Brazier pauses, mud oozing over his Wellington boots, to admire the work of a pair of beavers who have been introduced into a patch of Devon woodland. "Just look at the size of them!" He runs his fingers along the incisions left in the exposed trunk of a recently toppled tree, before turning to survey the devastation around him.

The devastation is part of a scheme that backers hope will provide a template for a more balanced approach to flood prevention. The government is spending 3.2bn on flood management in the course of this parliament. As flood events such as those seen in Cumbria at the end of last year become more common, so attention has turned to flood management, with a call for resources to be allocated not to building flood defences to deal with the water when it arrives downstream but prevent it getting there at all.