Fire in the rainforest
Burnt lichens on a birch after a fire. Credit Mark Hamblin
The ‘feral fires’ that threaten Scotland’s rainforest
It maybe goes without saying, but Scotland’s rainforest shouldn’t burn.
Actually none of our woodlands in the UK have evolved to burn (with the possible exception of the Caledonial pinewoods, which may have formed alongside occasional fires). Some trees can take advantage of the clear ground after a fire, but they don’t need flames to encourage seeds or young trees to grow, as is the case in some American woodlands.
Still, natural wildfires (caused by lightning strikes) do happen in our landscapes, though they’re pretty rare giving plants plenty of time to regenerate between them. But virtually none of the fires we see in Scotland now are natural. We might still call them ‘wild’, but they’re more like ‘feral fires’, flames released into the wild by human activity, either deliberately or accidentally. And they’re far from rare.
In theory, Scotland’s rainforest should have a level of protection from these fires. They do, after all, grow in a zone where significant amounts of rain falls right through the year and where long periods of hot weather are unusual. Mature, healthy rainforests can actually maintain their own humidity as well, even through dry summers.
But many of our rainforests now are far from healthy. They’re fragmented, and over-run with invasive non-native species. Couple this with more regular fires, a warming climate and longer spells of drought conditions, and the risks to Scotland’s rainforest are getting higher.
A hot topic: Scotland’s growing wildfire problem
According to the Global Wildfire Information System (GWIS), there have been 114 wildfires recorded in the UK so far this year, burning an area of 46,151 hectares (likely a vast underestimate). To give you a sense of scale, the island of Arran is 43,200 hectares.
This is the most burnt land the GWIS has recorded for the UK since their records began in 2012, the previous high being 28,100 hectares in 2019. We blew past that record way back in April, and since then it’s been a long hot summer. In June and July, record-breaking fires burned across moorland at Carrbridge and Dava in the Highlands, with Scottish Land and Estates estimating that these fires alone affected 11,827 hectares. Serious fires have also broken out in Perth, Shotts, Arran and Cumbernauld, to name but a few, and even Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh burst into flames during this year’s Fringe Festival, sending tourists fleeing from the hill.
Just last week (24-26 September), Scotland had its thirteenth official Wildfire Warning of the year, which The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service says is the highest in recent times, and the first warning to fall in September since 2020.
Most of these fires are on moorlands, burning grasses, shrub and heather, or in the case of Arthur’s Seat, gorse. But fires have also been spreading into our woodlands.
Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh burning in August 2025. Credit Howard Elwyn Jones
Fire on the Isle of Bute
In the early hours of 8 April, a fire started to burn on the Isle of Bute. For several days and nights, it grew, with emergency services and a helicopter working hard to put it out.
On 12 April, the fire reached woodland owned and managed by members of the Bute Community. It burned there for nearly a day, and when it was done, 8 hectares of Scotland’s rainforest had been left blackened and damaged.
The area that burned is about 5% of the total that the community own, and the woodland is a Site of Special Scientific Interest. It’s the only temperate rainforest found on the island, and is precious to the people who care for it. Their Ranger Ecologist, Samuel Lindsay, worked for hours to try to extinguish the flames, but to no avail. It was the rain and the efforts of local firefighters that eventually put the fire out, fortunately before it could spread further into the areas of the wood dominated by ancient oak trees.
Fire in the Bute rainforest in April 2025. Credit Samuel Lindsay
Damaged rainforest
The fire, sadly, hit at one of the worst times of year for nature, when trees were in bud, reptiles and amphibians had emerged from their winter hibernation, and birds were just beginning to nest. The fact that this was an area of rainforest makes the destructive impact of the fire even worse.
Scotland’s rainforest isn’t rainforest just because of its trees. It’s defined as a rainforest because of its rich and specialist biodiversity: the massive range of species, particularly mosses, lichens and liverworts it supports. Some woods support hundreds of different types of moss and liverworts, many of them species that can only be found in temperate rainforest.
The area of rainforest that burned on Bute was a young woodland where birch dominated, and the lichens and bryophytes were only just starting to establish. Much of that biodiversity has now been badly damaged and will take a long time to grow back.
Young woodlands are particularly vulnerable to fire because the trees are smaller, and there’s generally more undergrowth because of the open canopy; the closed canopy of a mature wood also creates higher humidity and moisture levels, discouraging fires from spreading. Woodlands on hillsides are even more vulnerable, as fire spreads easily uphill.
How do these fires start?
The causes behind wildfires are complex and impacted by land use and management practices, non-native (and often invasive) plant species, and human activities. Cigarettes, barbecues, open fires, even discarded bottles can all start a wildfire, with many also started on purpose. This is all before you even get to climate change, which is likely a contributing factor to recent heatwaves and droughts. These leave our countryside tinder-box dry, just waiting for a spark from a fire or a sun’s ray through a bottle to start burning.
Fires can also create better conditions for future fires to burn, making it a bit of a vicious cycle. The fire on Bute wasn’t the first to affect its rainforest: a similar fire raged out of control nearby just six years previously. One of the impacts was that it destroyed areas with a rich mix of woodland and heathland plants. In their place a monoculture of purple moor grass sprung up, which (when it dries out) is the perfect fuel for fires.
The aftermath of a rainforest fire at Ardroe, Assynt in April 2023. Credit Mandy Haggith
What can be done to protect our rainforest from fire?
The Bute fire wasn’t the first to hit Scotland’s rainforest in recent years, and it’s unlikely to be the last. April in particular seems to be a vulnerable month. It’s when hot, dry weather can hit just before the leaves on the trees have had a chance to open, when the humidity is low, and when thick layers of mosses and liverworts, normally dripping with moisture, can dry out and crisp up, and burn.
So can anything be done to mitigate the threat?
Many of the issues that cause wildfires can only be tackled at a policy level. More education and awareness-raising are also needed to reduce the risk of accidental fire, and to reduce the risk of damage by managed fires. But building resilience can also be tackled on the ground.
Restoring as much rainforest as possible across whole landscapes will help create healthier woods with higher humidity that are more resistant to fire. It will also create numerous refuges for rare species of moss, liverworts and lichens, meaning that if one area of woodland sadly burns, others will survive, aiding re-growth and the re-establishment of species in the future.
Fortunately, we know how to restore the rainforest: remove the threats of non-native plants like rhododendron, tackle issues of over-browsing by deer, and restore more Plantations on Ancient Woodland Sites (PAWS).
Learning to live with the threat of feral fires
With hotter, drier seasons now likely to be the norm in Scotland, fires may be feature of tomorrow’s springs and summers that we have to find a way to live with, even in the rainforest zone.
Every fire has the potential to be devastating for wild places and wildlife, and for the people who look after and rely on the land. We can try to reduce the impact, and ensure our rainforest is as resilient as it can be from these potentially catastrophic events. But we can’t entirely rule out of the risk.
If you’re visiting Scotland’s rainforest at any time of the year make sure you follow the Scottish Outdoor Access Code, and read the guidance on lighting fires Guidance - Open fires and BBQs in the outdoors | Scottish Outdoor Access Code, take your litter home, and report any fires that you see.
During prolonged dry periods, please do not light a naked flame outdoors in Scotland’s countryside.
