Inspired by the restoration work taking place next door in Ausewell, the owners of Buckland Wood support The Woodland Trust’s vision for conserving Devon’s temperate rainforest.

The WT have been given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to buy and restore 102 hectares (252 acres) of this rare habitat.

Owning Buckland Wood gives them an opportunity to connect existing sites and as a result, boost the biodiversity and resilience of a much larger area, and expand and buffer vital ‘refugia’ habitats where precious wildlife can thrive.

They will also have significant opportunities to work with neighbouring landowners to connect and restore the landscape at scale, which will be transformative for the region.

The wood’s mature conifer crop was expected to attract significant commercial interest, so they had to act quickly to secure the sale of this precious site.

Now that Buckland Wood is under their care, they urgently need help to raise the £2.8 million cost back.

The good news is that a long-time friend and supporter of the Woodland Trust has pledged to match every donation, up to £750,000.

Their wonderful generosity means the majority of your donations will be doubled!

Buckland Wood is in the heart of Devon’s temperate rainforest zone and lies northwest of Ausewell Wood, another incredible rainforest site we purchased in 2019 and co-owned with the National Trust.

Five years of restoration work has helped bring sunlight to dormant ancient soils, removed non-native species and created a thriving habitat for rare wildlife including pine martens, raptors and pied flycatchers.

Based on what they know about Ausewell, restoring Buckland Wood could potentially support and benefit many threatened species. This includes mammals such as dormouse, otter and 12 species of bats, as well as breeding and winter migrant birds like goshawk, peregrine falcon and redwing.

The Woodland Trust will restore the 'plantation on ancient woodland' back to ancient woodland by gradually thinning non-native conifer, planted in the 1950s and 1960s, while removing invasive species. This will allow majestic Scots pine conifers to grow and mature into ancient ‘granny’ pines of the future.

They will also enhance the existing ancient woodland by managing light levels, ground flora and deadwood.

We'll revive the habitat across Buckland Wood to help nature recover, support rare mammals and give threatened bird species a place to shelter, breed and feed.

With climate change making these precious rainforest landscapes in the South West even more fragile and vulnerable, it's vital that we bring as much as we can into restoration as quickly as possible.

Chief Executive of The Woodland Trust Dr Darren Moorcroft says:

“ Temperate rainforests are one of the UK's most important and rare habitats.

“They are native woodlands in areas with high oceanicity (influence of the sea), high rainfall, humidity and mild, stable temperatures.

“These conditions occur in less than one per cent of the planet.”

A single woodland can host over 200 species of bryophytes and 100-200 species of lichens, many of which are globally rare. Mosses and bryophytes help maintain a stable and humid microclimate.

To find our more visit: https://tinyurl.com/4xcxr5fn