There's a valley (close to Bray, Co. Wicklow) that I've loved visiting since I was a kid. Truly a special place that I’d go so far as saying there’s a sense of magic in the air. But a rainforest?!

Amazon rainforest

I was fortunate enough to visit the Amazon rainforest back in 2002. Having returned from that trip I couldn't help but notice the striking similarities of this valley to the famed rainforest (although on a much smaller scale 🙂)

An unfolding realisation

It’s only in the last couple of years however that I’ve begun to realise that this fragment of the Wicklow landscape qualifies, by definition, as rainforest. Temperate rainforest to give it its proper name (also known as Celtic rainforest or Atlantic oak woodland). This gradual realisation has been largely informed by the pioneering work of Eoghan Daltun, Hometree, Dr. Rory Hodd, Guy Shrubsole, and John Healy (amongst others). 

What's been even more mind-blowing is the realisation that, looking from an ecological & bioclimatic perspective, Ireland is a rainforest nation, where historically great swathes of the landscape would have resembled this valley.

Rainforest fingerprints (or signatures)

So what makes it a temperate (or Celtic) rainforest? 

Below is a checklist of signatures of these ecosystems (mediated primarily through specific microclimatic conditions that help create these unique forests)

Here's a Top 10 🔟 

💧 Rain (surprise! 😄) Top of the list. High annual (frequent) precipitation. Also includes the likes of fog and mist spray from rivers. Helps to maintain a suitable level of humidity

🌡️ Temperature- relatively constant year round

🏞️ Topography- deep valleys & steep slopes with rocky outcrops

🌳 Canopy- dominated by Sessile Oak (and/or alongside Birch, Ash, Hazel, Willow, Alder)

🍒 Understory- Holly 

🌿 Ground layer- Greater Wood Rush, Bilberry, Hard Fern 

🪨 Rocks & boulders- numerous and covered in rich carpets of non-vasculars

🌱 Ferns, mosses, liverworts, bryophytes

🍄 Species- a general richness, diversity & symbiosis of, including fungi & lichens

🗝️ Epiphytes (plants growing on plants) particularly mosses, ferns, young trees, shrubs, and bryophytes growing on the trunks & branches of trees

Future trajectory

Personally I'd love to see the expansion of these rare & precious ecosystems- we're starting from such a low baseline where only fragments of fragments still remain on the island. 

Beyond their intrinsic value, they offer significant benefits for people- from the physical & mental health benefits of connecting to wild nature to the cultural & spiritual significance, along with huge potential for recreation & exploration. From a climate and biodiversity strategic perspective, the restoration of these complex habitats makes an awful lot of sense in relation to our respective national targets (at the very least for their carbon sequestration capacity). 

Have you seen or visited a rainforest in Ireland? I’d love to hear people’s experience of this unique ecosystem.