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The Rainforest Restoration Project aims to increase the quality and resilience of temperate rainforestsacross the northwest and southwest of England, including Cumbria.
The Rainforest Restoration Project is a collaboration to protect one of the rarest and most amazing habitats on Earth – the temperate rainforest!
We have joined forces with a number of organisations and conservation charities with the shared goal of improving the quality and resilience of our amazing rainforests.
Across the northwest and southwest of England, including Cumbria, we will be working on the ground to restore this incredible habitat.
We want to shout from the treetops about these incredible habitats to raise awareness. Many people don’t know we have temperate rainforests in the UK, what they look like, or why it’s so vital that we protect them.
Our aim is to inspire people to love and care for the rainforest – through outreach, training events and sharing practical advice on woodland management.
And of course we’ll be getting hands on too! Some of our planned work includes:
In Britain, temperate rainforest is only found in areas of western Scotland, Cumbria, Wales and southwest England, where suitable climatic conditions prevail and ancient woodland and trees have survived.
The high annual rainfall and low annual temperate variation in these areas provides ideal conditions for lichens, bryophytes (mosses and liverworts), and ferns to flourish. The nature of the rainforest changes significantly with variations in this climate and with human influence on the landscape.
Our rainforests are home to some intriguing and rare species of lichens, ferns and lower plants like mosses or liverworts, that cannot survive anywhere else. Some of these pre-date humans, flowers, trees and even dinosaurs!
Once covering up to 20% of the UK, temperate rainforest is now confined to less than 1%, due to a number of threats including:
We need to work now, to protect these amazing habitats.
The #Species Survival Fund Rainforest Restoration Project is being led by the Woodland Trust in partnership with Plantlife and other organisations including Cumbria Woodlands, Cumbria Connect, Rusland LSG and Cumbria Wildlife Trust.
This project is funded by the Government’s Species Survival Fund. The fund was developed by Defra and its Arm’s-Length Bodies. It is being delivered by The National Lottery Heritage Fund in partnership with Natural England and the Environment Agency.
From our work deep in the forests of the Caledonian Pine woods to the wild north coast – species are at the very heart of what we do.
Discover how Wales’ flagship green recovery project Natur am Byth! is helping to unravel the mystery of a vanishing lichen.
An incredible story of returning one of England’s rarest lichens to its historic home – more than 350 miles away.
Let’s learn how expert Dave Lamacraft translocated the lichen across the country.
The Scrambled Egg Lichen, a rare and endangered lichen, has been reintroduced to its historic home in East Anglia.
This yellow lichen with a white fungus on top really does look like an egg. But before you start imagining carrying it in a frying pan, let’s follow the amazing journey of transporting this lichen 350 miles.
The Breckland, in the east of England, has suffered more than other places with habitat loss. One of the casualties is the Scrambled Egg Lichen. It became extinct in the Breckland due to habitat loss resulting from changes in farming practices, an increase in tree cover and a loss of rabbits. The Scrambled Egg Lichen is 1 of 3 specialist lichens lost from the region, where they were once common, along with the Starry Breck and Scaly Breck Lichen.
Fortunately, we have found a way to reintroduce it back into the Breckland. Our Lichen and Bryophyte Senior Specialist Dave Lamacraft collected small patches of the lichen from Penhale in Cornwall and transported it using a process called translocation.
The rare Scrambled Egg Lichen Fulgensia fulgens is not just striking, but also a crucial part of the biological soil crust community which stabilises soils and facilitates the growth of other plants. It also hosts a globally rare fungus Lichenochora epifulgens which is even rarer than the Scrambled Egg lichen itself.
The UK is home to globally significant populations of rare lichen species, some of which are found nowhere else on earth. However, lichens face increasing threats from habitat loss, climate change and air pollution. Projects such as this are vital and will help us to reverse these declines.
Translocation is a process used in conservation which involves moving an organism to a new location, where it will hopefully survive and thrive. To translocate the Scrambled Egg Lichen, small patches of the lichen were carefully removed and reattached using a combination of water and bookbinding glue.
Some 200 small pieces of the lichen – about the size of a 20p piece – were removed from Cornwall and 160 transplanted into the Breckland chalky landscape. The site in Cornwall is managed by Cornwall Wildlife Trust.
About 160 lichens were translocated to a small area of about 100m at a site managed by Norfolk Wildlife Trust.
Measuring long term success of this translocation will take a few years, but it is hoped that if successful, the lichen will show evidence of growing after one year and spread naturally afterwards.
None of this work would have been possible without the support from Cornwall Wildlife Trust and Norfolk Wildlife Trust, with funding from Natural England as part of the Species Recovery Programme.
200 small patches of Scrambled Egg Lichen were transported from Cornwall to Norfolk
The Scrambled Egg Lichen was transported to the east of England in seed trays
The lichen was transplanted across an area of about 100m at a site managed by Norfolk Wildlife Trust
Glue and water was used to transplant the lichen
If you have any questions before getting started, from what happens when you stop mowing, to which flowers might pop up – here's everything you need to know to join the movement.
The sun is shining, the days are longer and our green fingers are ready to get stuck back in to some spring gardening.
This online workshop will teach you the basic biology of ferns, to help you identify some of the key species found in temperate rainforest.
Ferns can act as indicators of temperate rainforest or oceanic woodland habitat. Some of the species seen in the UK’s temperate rainforests are found nowhere else on earth.
This online training workshop will cover the following topics:
The #Species Survival Fund Rainforest Restoration Project is being led by the Woodland Trust in partnership with Plantlife and other organisations. This project is funded by the Government’s Species Survival Fund. The fund was developed by Defra and its Arm’s-Length Bodies. It is being delivered by The National Lottery Heritage Fund in partnership with Natural England and the Environment Agency
This workshop will teach you the basic biology of bryophytes, to help you identify some of the key species found in temperate rainforest.
Bryophytes can be indicators of temperate rainforest or oceanic woodland habitat. Some of the species seen in the UK’s temperate rainforests are found nowhere else on earth.
The #Species Survival Fund Rainforest Restoration Project is being led by the Woodland Trust in partnership with Plantlife and other organisations. This project is funded by the Government’s Species Survival Fund. The fund was developed by Defra and its Arm’s-Length Bodies. It is being delivered by The National Lottery Heritage Fund in partnership with Natural England and the Environment Agency.
This online workshop will teach you the basic biology of lichens and how to identify some key species found in temperate rainforest habitat.
Lichens can act as indicators of temperate rainforest or oceanic woodland habitat. Some of the species seen in the UK’s temperate rainforests are found nowhere else on earth.
This online workshop will teach you the basic biology of lichens, and give you the skills and confidence to identify some of the key species in the Lake District rainforest zone.
This two hour workshop will cover the following topics:
Join us for an interactive training workshop to how to assess the condition of temperate rainforest habitat!
The Rapid Rainforest Assessment (RRA) has been used to assess the condition of hundreds of temperate rainforests across the UK. The new RRA streamlined app gets us thinking on the move and provides an instant summary of management recommendations.
This online workshop covers the following topics:
Free
Reverse the red
Hazel Gloves Fungus is a priority species on the UK Biodiversity Action Plan, and a rare find for any fungi fan.
Sarah Shuttleworth discovers this funky fungi for Reverse the Red month, and the secrets it reveals about the area it’s found in.
Hazel Gloves Fungus’ common name comes from the finger-like projections of the stromata, cushion-like plate of solid mycelium. Found on Hazel trees in Britain, it is actually parasitic on the Glue Crust fungus Hymenochaete corrugate, and not the Hazel tree itself.
It was incredibly exciting to find Hazel Glove fungus. I knew about its importance as a rainforest indicator species and also its rarity status. I had seen many photos of it and so when I turned to take a second look at something I saw in the corner of my eye, I knew at once what it was.
I couldn’t share my unbridled joy at my discovery with anyone else in that moment, unless you include telling the singing Dipper I had just spotted or indeed talking to myself about it as I walked back along the trail. However, I was able to capture that moment on camera to relive again.
Hazel Glove fungus is an indicator of good air quality and temperate rainforest conditions, making it a flagship species for this threatened habitat. Temperate rainforests are found in areas that are influenced by the sea, with high rainfall and humidity and damp climate.
They are home to some intriguing and sometimes rare bryophytes, plants and fungi. Plantlife are working in many ways to protect and restore this globally threatened habitat.
I have since sent in my record to the county fungi recorder with a 10 figure grid reference, only to discover that this species has not been officially recorded in that area before, which only heightened my sense of achievement.
Recording fungi and sending your finds to local wildlife recorders creates a more accurate picture of the wild and wonderful world around us – and helps people like us know where to target conservation efforts.
It’s estimated that more than 90% of fungi are unknown to science, and only 0.4% of the fungi we know about have enough data to be assessed for global conservation status – letting us know if they’re critically endangered or not.
In the last few years there have been brand new species discovered right here in the UK, but we wouldn’t know about them if people like you didn’t get out and look for them.
To get started, find your local fungi recording group…
Getting out and looking for fungi can be a great way to connect with nature and discover more about this amazing kingdom. Here our Specialist Botanical Advisor, Sarah Shuttleworth, gives her top tips for finding fungi!
Recent studies have revealed that there's so much fungi out there that we don't know about. But how do we know this? Rachel Inhester, from our science team, tells us why.
Here we delve into fantastic fungi folklore, to explore some of our favourite stories!
Rob Hodgson started learning about lichens in lockdown, as a complete beginner.
Exploring his hometown of Bristol, he learnt to love these amazing green plants, even bringing them into his work as an illustrator.
“Lichens are cool because they are everywhere. Once you notice them, you realise they are crazy, weird, colourful and interesting.”
Rob Hodgson started his lichen journey in lockdown as a complete beginner. Walking around Bristol one day, a lichen peaked his interest and from then on he was gripped by these secret miniature forests.
As an illustrator, Rob has created dynamic and lifelike lichen characters to help more people starting out.
We went to chat to Rob and join him on a lichen hunt.
“It was kind of my lockdown project and I just got interested one day, like what is this crazy thing. When I first started looking at lichens, you go online and there’s a million Latin names and I was just like, no this isn’t for me – I’m not a lichen expert. But once you learn the common names and you start to spot different ones, it gets easier. You don’t have to go anywhere far away, you can see these things just on the street. There’s one called chewing Chewing Gum lichen that you can see everywhere once you tune into it, just on the pavement.
“You do definitely notice if you go to the countryside, it’s like a lichen explosion. But I live in the centre of Bristol pretty much and there’s still lichens everywhere. On my doorstep, you see them on the pavements, you see them on walls and in my local parks there’s loads of lichens.
It’s a really good time of year to go lichen hunting [autumn/winter] and you don’t need any stuff. You can just go and as soon as you get out of the house you are on a lichen hunt – that’s as easy as it is. You just need to look on the floor, look in the tress and you’re good to go.
“The way I work things out sometimes is through my work. When I was looking at lichens, I thought how can I make this more interesting than all of these super technical, botanical drawings. I drew one, and then once you notice one, you notice another, and then all of sudden I had drawn 20 different lichens.
There was a lot of back and forth between going out and looking at lichens and going back and modifying them.
That was where I was coming from, trying to make them fun and accessible.”
Rob has made beautifully designed lichen characters including dust lichen, shield lichen and oak moss. Follow him on social media here.
Plantlife is working with governments and landowners to protect and restore temperate rainforest along the Atlantic coast of England, Scotland, and Wales.
Characterised by the presence of unique lichens, bryophytes, mosses, and liverworts, rainforest habitats are highly fragmented and face threats from invasive non-native species, such as Rhododendron ponticum, alongside ash dieback, inappropriate grazing, and air pollution.
Temperate rainforests have some of the highest diversity and abundance of wild plants and fungi in Britain, with many sites qualifying as Important Plant Areas.
Protecting and restoring this ecosystem would speed up progress in meeting national and global targets to address the nature and climate emergencies, including the 2030 Global Biodiversity Framework. Investment in rainforest restoration would also build on past and present conservation actions, and help to build a green economy through employment, skills training and tourism.
The future of Britain’s temperate rainforest and its unique species depends on targeted action by the Scottish, UK and Welsh Governments to:
1. Establish national rainforest funds from both public and private sources to support long-term landscape-scale projects and other practical action.
a) The Alliance for Scotland’s Rainforest has identified the cost of restoring the temperate rainforest zone in Scotland to be £500 million.
2. Increase protection of remaining rainforest sites and species through national strategy, policy, and legislation.
3. Provide advice and support for land managers to enhance and restore rainforest on their land.
4. Take urgent action to tackle key threats to rainforest including air pollution, invasive non-native species (INNS), and deer management.
a) More than 94% of the UK’s woodland is impacted by excess nitrogen deposited through air pollution and rainfall. Lichens are essential species in temperate rainforests, but they need clean air to thrive. Lichens provide food, shelter, and microhabitats for invertebrates, in addition to carbon cycling and water retention.
b) Invasive non-native species, like Rhododendron ponticum and ash dieback currently have the potential to wipe out much of the species diversity in Britain’s temperate rainforests. Funding projects that address this, in addition to making powers of enforcement more widely known and used where necessary, give rainforests to chance to thrive.
c) Deer are a natural part of thriving temperate rainforest areas; however, at their current population density, particularly within Scotland, their grazing prevents essential tree species from growing and this leads to a decrease in long-term regeneration of woodland areas.
Plantlife is calling on governments to invest in rainforest restoration and take urgent action to tackle the threats to this internationally-important habitat.
A new English government strategy for temperate rainforest has been released, but restoring the rainforest in England requires a more detailed approach that recognises and addresses the threats. To put the rainforest on the path to recovery, concrete action is needed.
Discover how Plantlife is working with governments to protect and restore temperate rainforest along the Atlantic coast of Britain.
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