Devon Wildlife Trust says that the first step in its attempts to create a new temperate rainforest in Devon has been successfully completed.

In 2023, the charity took on the ownership of 30 hectares of sheep-grazed land close to Totnes. The charity then announced its ambition to create a new temperate rainforest on the site.

It has now finished the first task of planting 17,000 native species trees and shrubs. As the decades pass, these will mature to provide the vital ingredients needed by nature to become a temperate rainforest.

The land at Bowden Pillars was purchased with support from insurance company Aviva and is part of a wider initiative between the company and The Wildlife Trusts to create temperate rainforests across the UK.

Temperate rainforests are unique ecosystems characterised by their damp and humid conditions. These can support a rich and unique range of wildlife.

In the past, these landscapes accounted for 20 per cent of Britain’s land area and dominated its western regions, including Devon and Cornwall. Today, just 1 per cent of temperate rainforests remain.

The Bowden Pillars site includes a mix of native species, designed to mimic existing temperate rainforests. The saplings include oak, birch, rowan, holly, alder, willow, and hazel. All were sourced locally, many from tree nurseries run by Devon Wildlife Trust and its partners, Moor Trees and Tamar Trees. Each young tree has been protected using its own compostable tree guard.

The pattern of tree planting at Bowden Pillars has been carefully designed to create a mosaic landscape in which woodland is interspersed with open glades and wildflower meadows.

Claire Inglis is the Devon Wildlife Trust Nature Reserve Officer and has led the temperate rainforest creation project. Claire said: “I’m so proud of what local people and I have created here at Bowden Pillars. The weather hasn’t always been the kindest to us. This past winter has been one of the wettest on record, and yet our volunteers have still turned up regularly, while the community planting days we organised also attracted good numbers of local people. Without their efforts, we couldn’t have planted so many trees so swiftly.”

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