Forests and Folklore: How Temperate Rainforests Inspired Folk Tales

Temperate rainforest in Lake St Clair Cradle Mountain National Park, Tasmania (Source: SHB2000, from Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0).

When most people hear the word rainforests, they think of the tropical forests of the Amazon: hot, humid and wildly biodiverse. But these tropical rainforests have a twin; the lesser-known temperate rainforest. These forests are globally rare, inhabiting areas with high humidity, mild temperatures and local topography that provide ideal microclimates (Swetnam, 2025). These conditions are typical of several coastal regions around the globe, which are often found on the western coasts of continents. Areas include the Pacific forests of North America, the Valdivian forests of Chile and Argentina, the Tasmanian Wilderness, many islands of Japan, and coastal regions of northwestern Europe.

Global distribution of temperate rainforests (Source: Hunt et al., 2024).

Temperate rainforest, also known as Atlantic or Celtic rainforest, is found along the western seaboard of the United Kingdom including the west coast of Scotland, west Wales, Devon, Cornwall, Cumbria and parts of Northern Ireland. It is a unique habitat with ancient oak, birch, ash and hazel trees and often made more diverse by open glades, crags and river gorges. But what is even more striking and symbolic of these forests are the bounty of lichen, fungi, moss, ferns and liverworts that embellish and adorn them. Particularly interesting species include witches whiskers, green satin and string of sausages (lichen), hazel gloves, green elf cups, and glue fungus (fungi) and fingered cowlwort, straggling pouchwort (liverworts) and pincushion moss.

(A) String of sausages (Usnea articulata), (B) Pincushion moss (Leucobryum glaucum), (C) Hazel gloves (Hypocreopsis rhododendri), (D) Green elf cups (Chlorociboria aeruginosa), which were indicators that fairy carpenters were at work in Devon folklore, (E) Fingered cowlwort (Colura calyptrifolia). (Sources: (A) Jymm, from Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; (B) Rudolphous, from Wikimedia Commons, licensed under the CC0 1.0 Public Domain; (C) Katherine Grundy, from Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0; (D) Leoboudv, from Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0; (E) Colura calyptrifolia on willow trunk, courtesy of the British Bryological Society).

Looking at these species, one can see how these British habitats could inspire fantastical imaginations and storytelling. In fact, Britain’s mysterious and magical temperate rainforests are deeply woven into Celtic, Gaelic and regional folklore.

Starting in the south is Wistman’s Wood, located in the Dartmoor National Park in Devon. It is famous for its gnarled, twisted oak trees, otherworldly, eerie atmosphere and overgrown, moss-covered boulders. Accordingly, the name of Wistman's Wood is thought to derive from the dialect word "wisht", meaning "uncanny" or "pixie-led/haunted" (Westwood, 1985; Hemery, 1983). In the early 19th century, Eliza Bray’s writings described Wistman’s Wood as one of the last surviving ancient Druid groves and claimed that Druids once conducted rituals there and carved symbols into the moss. Another legend, The Wild Hunt, is steeped in primal Pagan beliefs. Come nightfall, the woods turned into kennels for Wisht Hounds during nightfall, who would hunt in search of lonely travellers along with their leader, the cursed huntsman. If that wasn’t frightening enough, these hounds have huge fangs, a howl that penetrates through the bark of every tree, and piercing, fiery eyes. It was this legend and woodland that inspired Sir Arthur Conan Coyle’s Sherlock Holmes novel, The Hound of the Baskervilles.

The battle between Mabinogion hero, Pryderi, and trickster, Gwydion (Source: Gwydion Conquers Pryderi by Ernest Wallcousins – image from Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain).

Moving across the Severn estuary to Coed Felenrhyd in Wales, we find the Mabinogion: a collection of eleven medieval Welsh tales. In one of the tales, Pryderi, one of the Mabinogion heroes, is gifted a herd of special pigs by the king of the ‘Otherworld’ (Templeton, 2022). Gwydion, the trickster and nephew of the King of north Wales, wants these pigs so using toadstools, he magics up 12 stallions and 12 hounds, and trades them for Pryderi’s pigs. However, as soon as the trade is done, the bounty returns to mushrooms and sticks! Such fury enraptures Pryderi that he and Gwydion undergo single combat, but Gwydion triumphs by using magic and Pryderi is sadly killed. Allegedly, one can still visit his grave today.

Eight thousand years ago, at the height of temperate rainforests in the UK, the forests connected from Wales all the way to Scotland, where mythical beings wandered the woodlands. Here, you’d find sìths (faeries), forest spirits and tree guardians. Ghillie Dhu, a small, dark-haired, gentle woodland spirit clothed in leaves and moss, was said to dwell in birch woods around Gairloch in the northwest Highlands (Briggs, 2002). He was known to be a kind and shy faerie, protecting lost children and caring for the trees. But legends warned that should humans disrespect the forest he would vanish forever.

With these woodlands now so thoroughly altered by human hands, one might imagine that the Ghillie Dhu has quietly withdrawn, leaving only the whisper of leaves and the memory of mossy glades where he once roamed. Historically, these forests were first devastated by deforestation, but today the biggest threats are climate change, human activity and invasive species. Rhodedendron, ivy encroachment and non-native conifer, holly, beech and sycamore regeneration are major threats. Unfortunately, their fantastical lure is also one of the things driving change, this is particularly true in Wistman’s Wood where recreational pressure is particularly damaging to the habitat.

However, this growing awareness of temperate rainforests has also sparked new initiatives, policies, and public support. Several projects focused on conserving the remaining habitats and encouraging their regeneration are now underway. For instance, in 2023 the government published a Temperate Rainforests Strategy for England, pledging £750,000 for research into protecting these ecosystems. Meanwhile, insurance company Aviva has entered into a £38 million, 100-year partnership with The Wildlife Trusts to help restore Britain’s lost temperate rainforests and move the company closer to net zero - an effort described as “the largest ever corporate donation to nature conservation in the UK.” If this commitment endures, the rainforests that once gave rise to legends of Pryderi, the Wisht Hounds, and Ghillie Dhu may yet breathe again - living reminders of the deep bond between story and landscape.

References

Hunt, B.P. et al. (2024) ‘Advancing an integrated understanding of land–ocean connections in shaping the marine ecosystems of coastal temperate rainforest ecoregions’, Limnology and Oceanography, 69(12), pp. 3061–3096.

Swetnam, R.D. (2025) ‘The “other rainforest”: restoring Britain’s green gem’, Geography, 110(1), pp. 34–38.

Briggs, K.M. (2002) The fairies in tradition and literature. London: Psychology Press. (First published 1967).

Westwood, J. (1985) Albion: A guide to legendary Britain. London: Grafton Books, p. 32.

Hemery, E. (1983) High Dartmoor. London: Robert Hale, pp. 454–455.

Templeton, A. (2022) ‘On the trail of Pryderi in a Celtic rainforest’, Medieval Wanderings, 8 May. Available at: https://medievalwanderings.com/2022/05/08/on-the-trail-of-pryderi-in-a-celtic-rainforest/ (Accessed: 21 October 2025).