The Lost Rainforests of Britain by Guy Shrubsole

4.5 out of 5 stars

When people think of rainforests the Amazon is the place that immediately comes to mind, it does for me. But did you know that this country is also a rainforest nation? We are, and we have what is called temperate rainforests, these exist in the latitude bands between the tropics and the poles.

I have known about this for a little while now, but one person who discovered this for himself was Guy Shrubsole. After moving to Devon, he came across this spectacular habitat for the first time. And then having discovered it, he realised just how little of it was left across the country. This book is his story of the discovery of these unique places. Utilising the power of modern mapping systems he realised that at its peak, temperate rainforests would have covered around 20% of the UK.

Now there are only fragments left.

He launched this on Twitter and with the assistance of people all over the UK he has collated a map of all the places that still have this left. He travels around to some of them left, like the spectacular Wistman’s Wood and outlines what we can do to protect them.

I thought this book was excellent. Not only is Shrubsole is an excellent writer and his passion for this subject in particular, comes through on every page. Not only is he bringing this to our attention in this book, but he is actively involved in practical solutions to increase the coverage of these forests on the western seaboard of our country. Highly recommended.

Follow them on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/LostRainforests