#celtic rainforest

[babbittybabbitt]

Ivy Bridge over the river Prysor in Ceunant Llennyrch

[notwiselybuttoowell]

Celtic rainforest in Wales facing extinction crisis, ecologists warns

A rare lichen's last refuge on ancient oak felled by a storm puts a unique forest on the brink.

An "extinction crisis" is happening in Britain's temperate rainforests where some of the world's rarest mosses, lichens and liverworts are vanishing, ecologists have warned.

Also known as Celtic rainforests, temperate rainforests are found primarily along the UK's western coasts.

A survey of Welsh rainforests in 2024 found only 22% were in a good condition due to pollution, fragmentation and invasive species.

"When this tree came down, in a flash we lost a species," said ecologist Sabine Nouvet about a 500-year-old oak in Eryri National Park, also known as Snowdonia, which fell during Storm Darragh in December.

The tree was home to one of the UK's best known populations of a rare lichen, the loss of which was "symbolic of the species crisis, the extinction crisis, that we are facing now", said Ms Nouvet.

Ms Nouvet, a rainforest advisor with Plantlife, a member of the Alliance for Wales' Rainforests, said the fallen tree's bark was once home to more than 60 types of lichen.

The rarest was the minuscule rinodina isidioides - its tiny structures, when seen through a hand lens, resemble its common name, skeletal fingers.

It lives only on trees at least 300 years old and in conditions found exclusively in the rain-soaked valleys of western Ireland and Britain.

Temperate rainforests occur on less than 1% of the planet's surface and Wales has internationally important examples of the habitat.

The special habitat's twisted branches, dappled light and moss-covered understorey once covered much of the country, but is now only found in isolated areas including the Woodland Trust's Coed Felenrhyd near Blaenau Ffestiniog, Gwynedd.

There is about 33,024 hectares, or 46,000 football pitches, of rainforest left in Wales.

Storms are just one of the threats to ancient woodlands such as Coed Felenrhyd which, according to the State of Wales Rainforest report, cover just 4.3% of country's rainforest landscape.

Much of this rainforest lacks connectivity to similar habitats because it is surrounded by farms or woodlands planted with non-native species.

Some are grazed inappropriately, the survey said, and many are affected by rhododendrons that smother the forest floor in a dense shade that native species cannot tolerate.

Wales has a global responsibility to protect the Celtic rainforest, said Plantlife's Adam Thorogood.

"We've got a really unique situation here in Wales where we've got some vital areas of habitat, a type of rainforest we don't really find anywhere else on Earth.

"People don't even realise that we have temperate rainforest here... right on your doorstep.

"It's there to be explored, there to be enjoyed, and there's a huge diversity of species of plant but also other flora and fauna."

He said interest from the public in the Celtic rainforest was coming at a time when it was under enormous pressure and significant investment was needed to secure its future.

[thesilicontribesman]

Cors y Gedol Ancient Woodlands, nr. Dyffryn Ardudwy, Wales

[greatgreenwelshadventures]

The Eryri Ambassador Training Programme took us on a field study day to the Celtic Temperate Rainforest near Dolgellau to survey the ancient trees, lichens and mosses and learn more about the ecology and conservation work.

[benvironment]

On Monday it was wet. Very very wet. And on days like that, where better to spend your time than in the places where wetness is the very reason for their bonkers beauty? Yep, time to visit the so-called 'Atlantic Rainforest'. 

I'm very fortunate to live and work among the regenerating pine woodlands of the Cairngorms but, quite frankly, for sheer sci-fi lichen-drenched other-worldliness, nothing comes close to these remnant oak/birch/hazel woodlands I can (and will) spend hours snapping pics in this lush environment. There's so much variety of colours, hues, shapes and species that there's no end of inspiration. Every bend in the path reveals a new unique sight. This particular woodland is on Loch Sunart, just outside Salen.

There are three features of 'temperate rainforest' like this:

High rainfall - measured in metres per year rather than inches!

The number of wet days per year - high rainfall in itself isn't enough, it needs to be consistently damp, with more rainy days than not.

No extremes of temperature - it needs to be a fairly stable climate, cool in summer, mild in winter, with humidity and drizzle etc.

In short, the west coast of Scotland 

[woodlandtrust]

The Celtic Rainforest | Geographical

The forest looks like it’s on something – extra fertiliser, steroids, or a mysterious science-fiction chemical? Being tucked away beyond Maentwrog Power Station, a humming 30MW hydropower plant, only adds to this feeling of an experiment gone wrong, or wonderfully right. At Coed Felinrhyd the plants are intense. All around, young ferns uncurl their seahorse-heads from clumps of moss, which have grown so big and fleecy they could almost sprout legs and frolic away. Oak trees hold tight fistfuls of their new leaves – shocks of neon and yellow against the dark backdrop of the gorge. There is rain from above, a stream hissing below, and everything in-between is sopping wet.

‘It is a genuine temperate rainforest,’ says Kylie Mattock, who manages the forest for the Woodland Trust. Forests like this would once have covered the western seaboard of Europe but now are extremely rare habitats on the continent. In the UK, fragments exist on the steep sides of rivers and gorges, away from the pressure of grazing and deforestation. Parts of these woods are so untouched, the hazel and sessile oak are thought to have been growing uninterrupted since the end of the last Ice Age.

‘In this area of Snowdonia, we can expect 200 days of rainfall every year,’ says Mattock. Weather that is ideal for growing. The wood’s topography, meanwhile, keeps it soggy. The gorge of Ceunant Llennyrch is steep and shady, and parts of it rarely experience direct sunlight or frost. ‘For an ecosystem like this,’ she says, ‘a mild climate and humidity is essential.’

[babbittybabbitt]

A lovely day out in Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[benvironment]

"What you have discovered, if it has a name.....is some Green". Strolling through the peculiar Tolkeinesque Ariundle Oakwood yesterday - a National Nature Reserve where moss is king!