IT is a spectacular woodland on Scotland’s steep and rocky west coast, regarded as a jewel in the country’s temperate rainforest.

Glenan Wood is a rare surviving tract of Scotland’s once extensive ancient oak woodland, home still to old oaks, as well as ash, birch, hazel and Scots pine trees.

Now a charity based in Portavadie, Argyll and Bute, has secured funding to acquire the 361 acre site, which was being sold by Forestry and Land Scotland.

The Friends of Glenan Wood organisation has secured a grant of £326,750 to purchase Glenan, which is next to the community. The body was formed in 2017 by local residents who put together a proposal under the Community Asset Transfer Scheme to acquire the land and also provide initial funding for two development officer posts.

“Glenan Wood is a fascinating and diverse natural habitat that contains areas of oak woodland which are recorded on maps dating as far back as the 1700s,” explained the charity’s Chairman, Robin Webster OBE.

“That the wood has survived relatively intact is largely due to its inaccessibility by road for commercial logging purposes. In 2017, when we saw that it was about to go on the open market a group of us felt compelled to act, motivated by a desire to acquire this special place to maintain and preserve it as a fantastic natural resource for the local and wider community. 

“After much hard work, we are naturally delighted that our application has been approved by Forestry and Land Scotland and that the funding to make the acquisition happen has been confirmed by the Scottish Land Fund.

“We are very grateful to both of these bodies and are now looking forward to shaping a vibrant and sustainable future for Glenan Wood, ensuring its biodiversity, beauty, peace and tranquillity are enjoyed by many generations to come.”

Scotland’s rainforests are relics of once great swathes of forest, dating from the last ice age about 10,000 years ago, which grew along the Atlantic coastline.

The Scottish west coast has some of Europe’s best examples of epiphyte communities, which is the collective term for lichens, mosses and other plants that grow on trees to avoid competition for sunlight on the forest floor.

It is the quantity of rain, coupled with a mean annual temperature neither too hot nor too cold, that enables temperate rainforests to thrive in Scotland and in other isolated pockets around the world.

But the rainforests have become fragmented and around 50 per cent of them destroyed as they become even more endangered than their more famous tropical counterpart

The woodlands are invaluable for protection against flooding as they act like sponges and soak up the heavy rain, but felling in the 18th and 19th centuries left them fragmented along the coast.

Lichens are vital to Scotland’s ecology as they fix atmospheric nitrogen, which very few species can do. They are also primary producers of biomass and play an important role in soil formation and provide a habitat to an array of creatures.

The Glenan woodland thrives in its Argyll location like other temperate due to the wet climate.

Key species include the interestingly named ‘deceptive featherwort’, ‘toothed pouncewort’ and ‘yellow speckle belly’.

It is also home to migrant songbirds, such as the redstart, tree pipit and wood warbler, as well as woodland birds, such as buzzards and great spotted woodpeckers, as well as deer, badger, red squirrels, wild cats and pine martens.

The threatened chequered skipper butterfly also flutters about the trees.

Among the charity’s initial plans for the area are improving pathway access to open up more areas of the site and the provision of interpretive signage to help visitors learn more about the diverse flora and fauna found there.

Opportunities to explain its intriguing history of human habitation will also be explored given the presence of various ruins, including the abandoned village of Glenan, within the wood. The settlement is known to date back to medieval times.

Various low impact income streams will also be considered as the charity seeks to secure funding for its activities on an on-going basis.

For now though, the Friends of Glenan Wood and its supporters are celebrating the success of their campaign and contemplating a bright future for the soon-to-be community owned asset.

“This is an exciting time for the charity and for everyone who knows and enjoys Glenan Wood,” said Mr Webster.

“But, of course, in one sense, the charity’s real work has only just begun.”

Last year, the conservation estate of Dundreggan in Glenmoriston celebrated its 10th anniversary, marking a decade of restoring the ancient Caledonian Forest.

Conservation charity Trees for Life bought the site for £1.65million which remains one of the UK's largest ever areas of land bought for forest regeneration.

The former hunting estate was already home to ancient forest fragments, including outstanding areas of juniper and dwarf birch.

The charity has since planted half a million trees at the site, ensuring natural regeneration of woodlands and encouraging the return of rare wildlife, plants and insects.