Yes, non-fiction has finally made it to the blog!

Synopsis:

In 2020, writer and campaigner Guy Shrubsole moved from London to Devon. As he explored the wooded valleys, rivers and tors of Dartmoor, Guy discovered a spectacular habitat that he had never encountered before: temperate rainforest. Entranced, he would spend the coming months investigating the history, ecology and distribution of rainforests across England, Wales and Scotland.
Britain, Guy discovered, was once a rainforest nation.

This is the story of a unique habitat that has been so ravaged, most people today don’t realise it exists. Temperate rainforest may once have covered up to one-fifth of Britain and played host to a dazzling variety of luminous life-forms, inspiring Celtic druids, Welsh wizards, Romantic poets, and Arthur Conan Doyle’s most loved creations. Though only fragments now remain, they form a rare and internationally important habitat, home to lush ferns and beardy lichens, pine martens and pied flycatchers. But why are even environmentalists unaware of their existence? And how have we managed to so comprehensively excise them from our cultural memory?

Taking the reader on an awe-inspiring journey through the Atlantic oakwoods and hazelwoods of the Western Highlands and the Lake District, down to the rainforests of Wales, Devon and Cornwall, The Lost Rainforests of Britain maps these under-recognised ecosystems in exquisite detail – but underlines that without immediate political and public support, we risk losing them from the landscape, and perhaps our collective memory, forever. A rich, elegaic and boundary-pushing feat of research and reportage, this is the extraordinary tale of one person’s quest to find Britain’s lost rainforests, and bring them back.

Review:

When you hear the word ‘rainforest’ what comes to mind? I am sure it is a tropical green jungle with big cats and monkeys right? I’ve shared this before, but we also have rainforests here in the UK! Temperate rainforests exist in the latitude bands between the tropics and the poles, and in the UK we have scattered pockets of them. Globally they are scarce, and in the UK they are our rarest habitat. They are also one of our most biodiverse, filled with rare lichen, fungi and animals.

In his book ‘The Lost Rainforests of Britain’, Guy Shrubsole brings our attention to these incredible places while proposing solutions on what we can do to save them. He is not afraid to blame us – the people of the UK for their decline. And he is right to – we have destroyed them. What he also says, is that we too are the ones who can save them. How? Firstly, people need to know about and appreciate them. Our myths and folklore are filled with trees, and we have Tolkien and other storytellers – so many of our books these days have magical woodlands and forests. Through these, we can capture the imaginations of those who may wish for a better and more nature-focused world.

While Shrubsole is unapologetic in placing blame, there is also hope threaded through the book as we know that nature is more than capable of renewing itself. However, he does not mean that we should abandon the rainforests and let them exist and recover in their own bubble. The communities that live near them need to engage, appreciate and actively help them.

I’ve visited Wistmans Wood, one of the rainforests here in the southwest and I was staggered by the otherworldly feeling of it. Even not being allowed to enter, it was still palpable. I then hiked up around and above the wood and subsequently became upset at just how tiny it was. You could see clearly through to the other side in some spots. These habitats are so incredibly special, and they do need our help. I urge anyone who lives here in the UK to have a browse of this book, to understand just what we are losing.