There’s a new rainforest coming to Britain. No, not the Amazonian or tropical kind – the temperate kind, otherwise known as a Celtic or Atlantic rainforest. Temperate rainforests only occur in places close to the sea with high rainfall, high humidity and low variations in temperature and are full of flora and fauna such as the pied flycatcher, the woodcock, lichens, mosses and liverworts.
The Celtic rainforest used to stretch all across Britain but over the centuries (thanks to destructive human activity) has shrunk to just one percent of the country’s land area. Right now, a nationwide effort to revive Britain’s ‘lost’ rainforest is underway and, in Devon, the first step towards achieving that has just been completed.
With help from over 100 local volunteers, more than 2,500 native trees have been planted at Devon Wildlife Trust’s Bowden Pillars site, not far from the town of Totnes. It’s hoped that another 4,500 oak, rowan, alder, hazel, birch, willow and holly trees will be planted by the end of this winter and over the coming decades, they’ll grow to form a thriving temperate rainforest.
Claire Inglis, a nature reserve officer at Devon Wildlife Trust, told the Guardian: ‘The mature temperate rainforest will take several decades to become established, but the gains for nature will be much swifter. The mix of young trees in among grass pastures and hedges, along with our commitment not to use pesticides and artificial fertilisers, will be better for local moths, butterflies and bees, along with farmland birds such as yellowhammers and barn owls. It will be fascinating to see how it develops.’
The recovery programme, led by the Wildlife Trusts, is happening across other parts of the country, including Cornwall and Pembrokeshire and has been boosted by a massive £38 million donation from insurance company, Aviva.
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