Alliance for Scotland's Rainforest

Rhododendron growing thickly on a wooded hillside

Join Argyll Countryside Trust (ACT) and partners for an informative and engaging session exploring the challenges and opportunities of tackling Rhododendron ponticum within Scotland’s rainforest. Kilmory Woodland, 11 Dec from 10am. Find out more: buff.ly/LUu8v8z

Select tickets – Woodland creation & management to maximise biodiversity: What needs to be considered? – MS Teams Woodland creation & management to maximise biodiversity: What needs to be considered? – MS Teams, Tue 2 Dec 2025 - Come along and hear from Kenny Kortland, Environmental Policy Advisor, Scottish…

Want to create a new woodland? Join the Integrating Trees Network for a free online event: "Woodland creation & management to maximise biodiversity: What needs to be considered?" 2 December 7pm. Find out more:

A close up of a green liverwort with prickly edges

You'll normally see Prickly featherwort in #ScotlandsRainforest growing mixed up with other liverworts, filmy ferns and lichens, often on rocks or at the base of trees. It's pretty rare elsewhere, making our populations important. 📷 Stan Phillips

Have you ever visited Dunollie Wood in Oban? It might be at the heart of Scotland's busiest port town, but somehow it's managed to cling onto some very special wildlife #ScotlandsRainforest buff.ly/4Ebbjqv

Select tickets – Your farm's future: Trees an option and opportunity? Why and how they can benefit your business – MS Teams Your farm's future: Trees an option and opportunity? Why and how they can benefit your business – MS Teams, Wed 26 Nov 2025 - Join us for an informative and engaging evening all about how trees can…

Join the Integrating Trees Network for an online event: "Your farm's future: Trees an option and opportunity? Why and how they can benefit your business". This free event runs on 26 November at 7pm. Find out more buff.ly/yZZxloD

Beautiful mossy woodland with trees and rocks

Is Ariundle Scotland's most magical woodland? The National thinks it is! I mean, it's got to be up there... buff.ly/KuiORHg
📷 Ben Andrew

Bristol Zoo Project unveils Chelsea Flower Show rainforest garden The Chelsea Flower Show winner is part of a 100-year conservation programme.

If you missed the rainforest garden at Chelsea Flower Show this year, you can still see it at Bristol Zoo!
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Someone planting a young tree in grassland

Join the Integrating Trees Network for an online Tea and Trees with Crofters event, 11 Nov, 6–7 pm. During this informal session, you can share your knowledge and experience, and chat with other crofters, Scottish Forestry and Woodland Trust staff. buff.ly/ehaa7QK
📷 Richard Faulks

Acorns sitting on a mossy tree stump

It seems to be a fantastic year for acorns in #ScotlandsRainforest! Are these the oaks of the future?

Fire in Scotland's rainforest — Alliance for Scotland’s Rainforest Scotland’s rainforest shouldn’t burn. These woodlands grow in a zone where long periods of hot weather should be rare. But with Wildfire Warnings becoming more common in Scotland’s springs and…

Are wildfires a growing threat to Scotland's rainforest? In theory, these woods should be protected by the damp 'zone' where they grow. But damaged habitat, a warming climate and more droughts mean the risks could be getting higher. Find out more: buff.ly/sepQheh

A fire burning in an area of rainforest, with young birch trees on fire, and blackened by the flames.

#ScotlandsRainforest grows in a zone with high rainfall right through the year. But with Wildfire Warnings becoming more common in Scotland’s springs and summers, how much of a threat do fires pose to this already vulnerable habitat? buff.ly/zlUM1Fh
📷 Samuel Lindsay

Pink rhododendron flowers

Can you help remove invasive rhododendrons from #ScotlandsRainforest? @actinargyll.bsky.social is contracting for rope specialists to help tackle some of the most challenging sites. Is this role for you? buff.ly/iYWJKVp
📷 Caz Austen

Tree seed collection - Trees for Life Working with The Tree Seed Collection Project is a collaborative project between Woodland Trust Scotland and Trees for Life.  The project is funded by Woodland Trust Scotland, thanks to support from…

Trees for Life and Woodland Trust Scotland are looking for volunteers to help collect native tree seeds! While most restoration work in #ScotlandsRainforest is through encouraging nature regeneration, sometimes people need to give the trees a helping hand. Find out more:

A group of lichens of all different textures and colours all growing together

This is your last chance to apply for an amazing opportunity with National Trust for Scotland and Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh for a two-year role working on some of the finest lichen habitats in Scotland, including #ScotlandsRainforest! The closing date is tomorrow
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📷 Laura Corbe

@asrainforest.bsky.social partners joined us in West Cowal this week🌿 We explored Ash & Hazel refugia, saw cattle grazing trials at Kyles of Bute, and shared ideas on tackling Rhododendron at scale. Showers, lichens & an Osprey rounded off an inspiring day in #ScotlandsRainforest!
📷 Ian Dow/ACT

Looking up the trunk of a mossy oak tree with polypody ferns and dark branches above

Looking out from the shores of a rippling loch towards trees and islands, with the blue sky beyond.

Both Knapdale and Loch Arkaig have had the honour of being included in the first four Nature30 sites to be announced by NatureScot. This recognises areas that deliver positive, sustained, and long-term outcomes for biodiversity 👏 buff.ly/waKiLiD
📷 Jill Donnachie & Richard Thompson

Jobs — Alliance for Scotland’s Rainforest Whether you’re a scientist, a project manager, a fundraiser, or a communicator, there are lots of roles that support the ongoing work to restore and protect Scotland’s rainforest. There are also…

Join the work to save #ScotlandsRainforest! Find out about latest the latest job opportunities here: buff.ly/7uvYC7H #jobs #vacancies #jobvacancies

Discover how the Woodland Grazing Grant is helping a Highland farm improve rare woodland and boost biodiversity. Forestry Supports Scotland's Rainforest

Great video from Scottish Forestry 👇
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#ScotlandsRainforest

A purple globe-shaped flower with pin-like stamens and a blurred background

There's not much still in bloom at this time of the year in #ScotlandsRainforest. But one flower to look out for is Devil's-bit scabious. The story of its name goes that the Devil, apparently upset at the flower's healing abilities, bit off its roots. 😈
📷 Jenny Tweedie

An oak sapling viewed looking down onto the leaves

Event: Walking and talking trees. Discover how farmers Katharine and David Lowrie are transforming their farm to dramatically increase biodiversity by planting new native broadleaves on a third of their land. 9 Sep 2025 10AM-1PM, Tighnabruaich. buff.ly/QRNqbrS
📷 Niall Benvie

Bracket fungus on a lichen covered tree

Bracket fungi on a lichen -covered tree

You can see fungi all-year-round in #ScotlandsRainforest, but autumn is a particularly good time to look out for different species.
📷 John MacPherson Laura Corbe

A fly agaric toadstool with a blurred dark background

Fly agaric will be starting to appear in the birch woodlands of #ScotlandsRainforest, a sign that autumn isn't far away. These fabled fungi form symbiotic relationships with the trees around them, but they're toxic to humans. 📷 Ben Andrew

Big bunches of red rowan berries hanging from a tree

As the seasons change in #ScotlandsRainforest, there are lots of early signs of autumn to look out for, like the red berries on rowan trees. Did you know that rowans have a long association with magic in Scotland?? 🧙 Find out more: buff.ly/LSxMd7n
📷 Andy Hay

A hand running over a green mass of tiny ferns growing on a vertical surface.

You might see filmy ferns growing in #ScotlandsRainforest. They're easy to mistake for moss or liverworts, but they're very very tiny ferns! The one you're most likely to see is Wilson's filmy fern, named for William Wilson, a 19th century botanist. 📷 John MacPherson

An oak sapling viewed looking down onto the leaves

Event: Walking and talking trees. Discover how farmers Katharine and David Lowrie are transforming their farm to dramatically increase biodiversity by planting new native broadleaves on a third of their land. 9 Sep 2025 10AM-1PM, Tighnabruaich. buff.ly/QRNqbrS
📷 Niall Benvie

People looking at lichens on a tree

Help the Our Rainforest Futures project by filling in their short survey! buff.ly/YAQTW0e What you tell them will help shape a funding bid for 5 years of work across the rainforest zone, which will mobilise and equip people to get stuck in to saving #ScotlandsRainforest.
📷 John MacPherson

Magic mushrooms: how scientists discovered fungi are the secret ingredient for restoring the world’s forests Healthy fungal networks help trees and plants grow, making them key to successful reforestation. The only problem? Almost nothing is known about this subterranean ecology

Great article by @theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/environment/...

A beautiful Scottish river valley with mountains on the horizon and temperate rainforest coating the rolling hills. The sun is just coming up and glinting on the river.

Glasdrum Wood, on the edge of Loch Creran, is a remnant of #ScotlandsRainforest that's rich in woodland flowers, mosses, liverworts and lichens. This National Nature Reserve is also home to 20 species of butterfly!
📷 John MacPherson

Blog — Alliance for Scotland’s Rainforest Blog with events and news from the Alliance for Scotland's Rainforest, with guest posts from partners such as the Woodland Trust, Butterfly Conservation Scotland, Plantlife, and RSPB Scotland.

Our blog has loads of great articles about #ScotlandsRainforest: from tick facts to photography, birch to bird cherries, and fascinating facts about the doctrine of signatures. Find out more:

Drones to scatter seeds over wildfire damaged land in Lochaber A nature restoration group is to target its Seeds from the Sky project at areas of a Lochaber estate.

"Lochaber nature restoration partnership, Loch Abar Mòr, will use volunteers to collect seeds before they are dispersed over burnt ground on Glenuig Estate. "