THE conservationist behind controversial plans to reintroduce wild beaver to the Westcountry says it is "inevitable" others will follow from a landmark scheme in Scotland.

Beavers have been released back into the wild for the first time in 400 years close to a loch in Knapdale Forest, Argyll. Originally from Norway, two families of nocturnal rodents were taken north of the border following six months in quarantine in West Devon.

Representing the most ambitious mammal re-introduction programme to date in Britain, the arrival of the 11 beavers has followed years of protests from landowners, farmers and fisheries who claimed the animals would damage salmon and trout rivers and flood farmland with their dam-making and tree-felling.

Naturalists hope the five-year pilot projects will prove that the activity of the beavers, which were hunted to extinction hundreds of years ago, create rich wetland habitats.

As scores of conservation groups consider beaver re-introduction programmes, the most advanced scheme in England is in the Westcountry. South West Water is toying with applying for a licence to employ beavers on a reservoir in a radical move to purify water naturally.

The embryonic proposal for dams to be built on the waterways flowing into the 730-acre Roadford Lake has divided villages in rural West Devon, with sceptical landowners fearing the ramifications of felled trees.

Conservationist Derek Gow, who is both advising South West Water and quarantined the beavers destined for Scotland at his farm in Broadwoodwidger, near Lifton, said the Knapdale pilot is "hugely significant".

The Scottish Wildlife Trust and the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland were given the go-ahead for a trial reintroduction programme in May last year. Scottish Natural Heritage will monitor it and report to ministers on the outcome. The 11 beavers have been fitted with tracking devices. Mr Gow said: "The issues has been to-ing and fro-ing for 15 years, but the beavers will do well because the habitat is right. I think that after this one it is inevitable others will follow."

At the same time as working on a financial incentive for farmers near Roadford, as well as a comprehensive management plan, he is being contacted by wildlife groups keen to reintroduce beaver. Natural England has identified Devon and Cornwall as prime beaver habitat. Mr Gow added: "We know they will well. The habitat is good. We shouldn't have to wait five years to get on with it.