David Archer, let it go. Beavers are nature's answer to our broken rivers

The cute rodent helps combat drought and boosts biodiversity. Its rewilding is welcome and long overdue

- Helena Horton

The first time I laid eyes on a beaver was a couple of years ago on the Devon farm of Derek Gow, the farmer turned rewilder, who brought the furry rodents back to the UK 30 years ago. It was magical. Sitting in the June dusk, the pink-and-purple sky was reflected in the still ponds of the beaver habitat. Suddenly, ripples emerged from the lodge and the head of a kit - a baby beaver - popped up from underwater.

Watching this fascinating, and very cute, creature collect willow branches in its mouth was a heart-stopping moment; it felt like peeking into a secret world.

This scene will, I hope, now become common across England, after the government announced on Friday that beavers can be legally released into the wild for the first time. The rodents were a common feature of our rivers until about 400 years ago, when they were hunted to extinction for their pelts and an oil they secrete.

So this is a return of a creature that belongs here, and that we cruelly extinguished from our landscape. But it's a much more important moment than that. We have royally screwed up our rivers over the centuries, straightening them, divorcing them from flood plains and destroying the surrounding habitats. This causes increased flooding and makes it more difficult for nature to thrive. Beavers can heal this; they are known as "keystone species", which means their presence creates habitats for myriad other creatures, including fish, amphibians and insects.