Assessing the rainforest of Tayvallich
By Cathy Atkinson, Chief Data Scientist
On Tuesday a group 13 people could be spotted peering closely at the trees in one of the fragments of temperate rainforest at Tayvallich.
As explained in a previous blog post, there are patches of ancient temperate rainforest, and Plantlife kindly offered to run a training day on their Rapid Rainforest Assessment (RRA) tool.
Using hand lenses to inspect lichens
As well as colleagues from Highlands Rewilding, the group included people from NatureScot, Scottish Forestry, the Tayvallich Initiative and a local crofter. The training session was led by Dr Oliver Moore, Plantlife’s Lichen and Bryophyte Specialist for Scotland. Oliver shared his expertise on all the elements that make up the rainforest, both big and small.
The first stage in the assessment covered the woodland composition and understanding the different species making up the canopy level, including oak, birch, alder, ash, hazel and willow. The tree age profile was identified as being a mixed age wood with veteran, mature and younger trees.
The assessment tool also covers the understorey and field layers, habitat features (such as dead wood and rocky features), grazing and browsing pressure, invasive species, and ash dieback.
Due to the enthusiasm Oliver has for the subject, the highlight of the day was learning about the lichens and bryophytes of the rainforest. The photos below show only a small selection of the wonderous variety of lichens we found, several of which are rainforest indicator species.
Oliver awarded Keir, our Head of Forestry and Woodlands, the find of the day glory for spotting a Hazel Gloves Fungus (Hypocreopsis rhododendri). This was an exciting find as it is rare to see it this late in the year and it is an indicator of ancient woodland. Hazel Gloves Fungus is a parasite of glue fungus and we found a great example of the glue fungus at work where a dead stick was firmly stuck to a branch of a hazel tree.
Plantlife’s Rapid Rainforest Assessment (RRA) tool is straightforward to use on the handy mobile phone app and we hope to continue to regularly carry out assessments of the rainforest areas as part of our monitoring programme.
Dr Oliver Moore, Plantlife’s LIchen and Brophyte Specialist for Scotland