The Lost Rainforests of Britain

The Lost Rainforests of Britain is an interactive map of the surviving temperate rainforests of the United Kingdom.  Around 20% of Great Britain has a climate which is wet and mild enough to sustain a temperate rainforest. However less than 1% of modern Britain is covered by temperate rainforest.

Temperate rainforests exist in temperate zones that receive heavy rain. They grow mainly in oceanic moist regions, for example the Pacific temperate rain forests of the North American Pacific Northwest and the Appalachian temperate rainforest. According to The Lost Rain Fotrests of Britian temperate rainforests "are very damp woodlands – so damp that plants grow on other plants. ... If you want to recognise temperate rainforest in Britain, the key indicator is an abundance of mosses, lichens and polypody ferns festooning the branches and trunks of trees."

According to The Lost Rainforests of Britain the UK's surviving temperate rainforest fragments exist mainly on the west coast, in Cornwall, Wales, North-west England and West Scotland. The interactive map also includes a layer which shows Britain's 'Rainforest Zone', the areas of the country where the climate supports the existence of temperate rainforests. The map also contains layers to display public records of different species of mosses, liverworts and lichens that are considered to be good indicators of temperate rainforest.