Inspired by Scotland’s rainforest

Abi Pate is an illustrator and animator based in Edinburgh. She recently finished work on an infographic all about Scotland’s Rainforest, and for Wold Rainforest Day, she’s written a blog to tell us all about it.  

In the run up to starting this project, while travelling to my friend’s croft in Gairloch, we passed Beinn Eighe Nature Reserve. What we could see from the road looked beautiful. When I got home I looked it up, and was surprised to discover that it contained some of Scotland’s very own rainforest. It sounded amazing, an asset to the environment and a magical place to visit.  

I’m definitely no expert, and my knowledge of ecology is pretty patchy, but I was still surprised that I hadn’t heard of the Scottish rainforest before. I found the website of the Alliance for Scotland’s Rainforest and was inspired by their work to raise awareness of this important habitat. I had noticed before that a woodland’s age and diversity adds so much to its richness; the time it takes an ancient woodland to develop can’t be rushed or artificially reproduced. A walk that includes ancient, native trees and all the plant and animal life they support is always more beautiful. I love natural history and wondered if an illustration might in some small way help to raise awareness of these amazing places. 

As I read more, I realised that an infographic of the rainforest environment, incorporating a stylised view of the mosses, lichens, ferns, trees and a watercourse, could be great project. I wanted to highlight these key features and include a condensed version of the information I had found via the great resources on the websites of the Alliance, Plantlife and NatureScot. 

I learned so much while making this, and am now planning my own trip to the rainforest to finally see it for myself (after the summer – the midges hate me!). I’m especially keen on lichens (they’re not simply a plant or a fungus, you can’t lichen them to anything…thank you) and will be keeping an eye out for all those weird and wonderful species I’ve read about!