Plans to transform land on the outskirts of Totnes into a new rainforest are bursting into life with 17,000 trees planted on the site.
In 2023, The Devon Wildlife Trust took ownership of 75 acres of sheep-grazed land at Bowden Pillars Farm with the aim of establishing a temperate rainforest.
The land near Totnes was purchased with support from insurance giant Aviva and forms part of a wider initiative to create temperate rainforests across the UK.
Armies of volunteers worked through rain and shine to plant thousands of native trees and shrubs across one third of the site.
The saplings of oak, birch, rowan, holly, alder, willow, and hazel were all sourced locally, from tree nurseries run by Devon Wildlife Trust and its partners Moor Trees and Tamar Trees.
The 30-hectare (75 acre) site before 17,000 trees were planted
Claire Inglis, Devon Wildlife Trust Nature Reserve Officer, said: “I’m so proud of what we and local people 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.”
In years to come, the temperate rainforest will provide a haven for animals including stoats and pine martens, as well as rare birds such as wood warblers, redstarts, and pied flycatchers.
The forest will also support an abundance of mosses, liverworts, lichens, and ferns, many of which will grow on its trees or cover boulders.
Project leader, Claire Inglis, guiding a group of local visitors around the site of the new temperate rainforest
On other parts of the land, there are plans to establish a farm and a small community on zero carbon dwellings which will use regenerative agriculture techniques to grow food.
Claudine Blamey, Aviva’s Chief Sustainability Officer, said: “Devon’s prosperity is intertwined with the health and resilience of its nature and biodiversity. The new 17,000 native trees that have been planted at Bowden Pillars will bring flood resilience benefits and tackle nature loss and climate change, helping the local community get ready for the future. It’s brilliant progress in the project to create a new temperate rainforest and we’d like to express our thanks to all the Wildlife Trust staff and local volunteers involved.”
Trust volunteers planting the first trees at Bowden Pillars
In centuries past, temperate rainforests accounted for 20 percent of Britain’s land area and dominated its western regions, including Devon and Cornwall.
Today just one percent of temperate rainforests remain. Rare surviving examples include Wistman’s Wood and Dart Valley nature reserve on Dartmoor.