The ancient rainforests under threat ...in Britain

WHEN mist drifts through moss-draped oaks, droplets glitter like glass beads in the dim green light.

- By Steph Spyro ENVIRONMENT EDITOR

It sounds like a scene from a fairytale but this ancient rainforest is not hidden in the Amazon but on Britain’s own western edges — and without help it is at risk of vanishing.

The UK’s temperate rainforests are globally rare and cover less than 1% of Great Britain, a drastic reduction from the fifth of the land they once occupied.

Buckland Wood, a 104-hectare temperate rainforest in Devon, is among the habitats at risk due to climate change, disease and pests.

Danielle Semple, engagement and communications officer for the Woodland Trust, said: “It is a really, really important temperate rainforest site partly because of the beauty but also because of the species that live within it. Just one example of a type of lichen that lives here; 25% of the global population of this one species is found on two trees just down the valley here.

“The fact that this woodland can hold so much biodiversity is really critical in the temperate rainforest’s future.