#temperate rainforest

"Thousands of trees have been planted by volunteers as part of a new temperate rainforest in south Devon.

More than 2,500 native trees have been planted so far this winter at Devon Wildlife Trust's Bowden Pillars site near Totnes.

The charity said as well as storing carbon, temperate rainforests supported "a super-abundance" of wildlife.

The trust is transforming 30 hectares (75 acres) of sheep-grazed fields into a landscape with 70% tree cover and open glades and wildflower-rich meadows.

The charity said more than a 100 local people planted species including oak, rowan, alder, hazel, birch, willow and holly.

Nick Biggs, an 83-year-old volunteer, said he got involved with the project after being inspired by his apprenticeship with the Forestry Commission in 1958.

"That introduced me to the environment," he said.

"I was really keen to carry on with it and it's good for your fitness just to get out and do something."

The trust said in decades to come the new trees would form a temperate rainforest with high rainfall and humidity.

Helen Aldis from Moor Trees, which supplied some of the saplings, said many had been gathered locally.

She said: "The oak that's going in today is from acorns that we've gathered on Dartmoor that have come back to our tree nursery.

"Our volunteers process those, pop them into the root trainers and then they come out a year or two later to become the woodlands of the future."

'Incredibly rare habitat'

The trust said the damp woodlands used to cover large parts of Britain, but today amount to just 1% of its land area.

Project leader Claire Inglis said: "It's an incredibly rare habitat and we've lost a great deal of it over the years.

"Across the UK there is around 13% woodland cover but in Devon it's actually 11%, so it's lower than the national average."

The trust said the forests supported a variety of birds such as pied flycatchers, woodcock and redstarts, while the damp conditions meant mosses, liverworts, lichens, ferns and fungi thrived on the trees and forest floor.

Ms Inglis added: "The mix of young trees in amongst grass pastures and hedges, along with our commitment not to use pesticides and artificial fertilisers, will be better for local moths, butterflies and bees, along with farmland birds such as yellowhammers and barn owls."

The trust said 7,000 trees would be planted in the first winter with more planned in the future."

The hot, steamy days of summer have arrived, and on this particular Saturday a week of intermittent rain had transformed the verdant cove forest along Quarry and Clay Runs in Coopers Rock State Forest into a muggy, dripping wonderland. Hardly surprising - Appalachia's cove forests are temperate rainforests, absorbing and slowly releasing enormous amounts of rainfall and creating the conditions for moss, fungi and ferns to grow on anything and everything that doesn't move, living and non-living. Photos above are from the ever gorgeous Mont Chateau Trail, which features a thousand foot elevation change from Cheat Lake to Henry Clay Iron Furnace, bordered on one side by a steep ravine and on the other by beathtaking rock formations and sprawling rhododendron thickets.

Blue Water, Green Trees

Round I: Days 1 through 3

Nocturne the Liver Chestnut Unicorn could feel the power of the eclipse that overlooked the taiga where their stable was built. Filled with determination, Nocturne galloped to the Silver Lake that reflected the celestial phenomenon like a blinking eye.

Round II: Days 4 through 6

Shadow the Fleabitten Grey Unicorn had heard the whispers among the Seelie of the Waning Gibbous who tended his farmland. Whispers about a Banshee having a recurring dream. A dream about music echoing from the heart of a glacier in a temperate forest.

Round III: Days 7 through 9

The city bells rang as a Chocolate Palomino Unicorn dashed through the Veil. Neither tourist nor resident knew what waited on the other side, but the small, brown Steed emerged on the coast of a moonlit dormant volcano. Waiting for them, stood a Selkie, whose sealskin glowed in unison to the Unicorn’s horn.

Prompts Used

For MoonJune: Eclipse, Nocturne, Silver, Shadow, Whisper, Dream, Veil, Mystery, Glow (@monthlywritingchallenges)

For Junicorn: Liver Chestnut, Fleabitten Grey, Chocolate Palomino (@camelidae)

Also for Junicorn: Stable, Taiga, Lake, Farmland, Glacier, Temperate Forest, City, Coastal, Volcanic (@renthony)

For Junefae: Seelie, Banshee, Music, Bells, Moonlight, Selkie (@errantnight)

This whole article is delightful but I particularly enjoyed this bit, not least since, considering his father's 90, Merlin must be about 60 if not closer to 70: