Children Invited to Name Paradise Fields Baby Beavers
London residents from four to eighteen can submit suggestions
Beaver kit with its parent. Picture: Abhilesh Dhawanjewar
October 13, 2026
Young Londoners are being invited to help name the newest residents of Paradise Fields, as the Ealing Beaver Project launches a city-wide competition to choose names for two baby beavers born this year. Supported by the Mayor of London, the initiative aims to celebrate the return of beavers to the capital and deepen young people’s connection with one of London’s most ambitious rewilding efforts.
Open to all Londoners aged four to eighteen, the competition runs until 7 December. Entrants can submit their suggestions online, with the final names chosen by representatives from the Ealing Beaver Project and the Mayor’s team. For many children, it will be the first time they’ve had the chance to help shape the story of a species once lost from the city for centuries.
The naming competition marks another milestone for the Ealing Beaver Project, which reintroduced a family of Eurasian beavers to Paradise Fields in 2023—the first time beavers had lived in urban London for more than 400 years. Since then, the animals have transformed the landscape, carving out wetlands, slowing water flow, improving water quality and creating habitats that support a growing diversity of wildlife. Their presence has also offered thousands of Londoners the chance to experience a wilder, more resilient urban environment.
The project is delivered by Citizen Zoo, Ealing Wildlife Group, Friends of Horsenden Hill and Ealing Council, with support from The Beaver Trust and funding from the Mayor of London. The Mayor’s £12 million Green Roots Fund is backing nature recovery across the capital, from restoring water vole populations to establishing London’s first breeding colony of white storks in over six centuries. The beavers’ success at Paradise Fields has become a flagship example of how rewilding can flourish even in densely populated neighbourhoods.
The arrival of two new kits this year is further proof that the beavers have established a healthy breeding population. Schoolchildren now walk past beaver-shaped wetlands on their way to class and families visiting the site to catch glimpses of the animals at dusk.
For Dr Sean McCormack, the project’s lead and licence holder, the naming competition is a joyful next step. “We’re so excited yet again to have the pitter-patter of baby beaver feet at the Ealing Beaver Project, and to be partnering with the Mayor of London and the capital’s school children to name them. It brings us great joy that kids are growing up in a city that is rewilding and welcoming nature back.”
Elliot Newton, Director of Rewilding at Citizen Zoo, said the births show how powerfully nature can rebound when given space. “It has been incredible to watch the beavers thrive over the past three years, with the arrival of two more kits this year demonstrating just how successfully these animals can coexist with people in the heart of urban London. We now have schoolchildren walking to school through a landscape transformed by beavers, with nature becoming part of their everyday lives. This is the kind of transformation we need across London to tackle the climate and ecological emergencies.”
Deputy Mayor for Environment and Energy Mete Coban MBE echoed that sentiment, noting how quickly the beavers have reshaped their corner of the city. “Just a few years ago, beavers had been absent for 400 years. Today they are not only back, they’re thriving and growing their family right here in our city. In a short space of time, beavers have helped transform the local area—creating a flourishing wetland and boosting biodiversity—and they may have even helped to protect the local area from flooding.”
Paradise Fields remains open to the public around the clock, offering Londoners a rare chance to see how a single species can reshape an entire landscape. Now, young people have the chance to leave their own mark on that story—by choosing the names that will follow the new kits as they grow into the next generation of London’s urban beavers.
Name suggestions can be submitted until 7 December.
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