Scotland’s rainforest is as important as tropical rainforest, but even rarer. It’s a kind of coastal temperate rainforest, which itself is incredibly rare on a global level.

Scotland’s rainforest, also known as Atlantic woodland and Celtic rainforest, is made up of the native woodlands found on our west coast in the so-called “hyper-oceanic zone”.

Here, high levels of rainfall and relatively mild, year-round temperatures provide just the right conditions for some of the world’s rarest bryophytes and lichens.

It’s the diversity of these bryophytes and lichens that are found in vast quantities on trees, boulders, in ravines and on the ground, that makes Scotland’s rainforest internationally important. We have some of the best remaining rainforest sites in Europe.

Some estimates suggest that as little as 30,000 hectares might remain of Scotland’s rainforest – just 2% of Scotland’s woodland cover and only one-fifth of the area that has climatic conditions suitable for rainforest.

The Micro is the Macro

The colour of this 15mm domed ring is taken from studies of lichen gathered locally to me.

It is a beautiful Verdigris it is size K.