Lynch Knoll
Ecotalk's first rewilding project includes ancient woodland and wildflower meadow for pollinators.
Our Mission
To create a Green Britain
Ecotalk offers its customers a great mobile phone service with a green outcome - using our profits to protect nature in Britain
Let's bring back Britain's lost rainforests
Help us preserve and regenerate this incredibly beautiful but incredibly threatened part of our country's natural history
“What? Britain has rainforests?” It’s a common reaction when we tell people that Ecotalk’s mission is to bring back Britain’s lost rainforests. But the fact is that our islands were once home to vast rainforests stretching from Scotland to Cornwall, and remnants of it are still there to be saved.
At one time, up to one fifth of the country was covered in temperate rainforest and it’s part of our history and folklore. Over the centuries, deforestation, conversion to agriculture, urbanisation and poor land management have left these mighty woodlands depleted and scattered. They’re barely hanging on. We’re going to use Ecotalk profits to buy land, protect the rainforest biome and put the right conditions in place for it to regenerate.
In some places tall, non-native conifers have been planted that block out the light for slower growing British species such as oak, birch, ash, native pine and hazel. In others, plants like rhododendron have caused huge amounts of damage. We aim to remove invasive species and reintroduce native flora and fauna – including red squirrels, pine martens and beavers – so that Britain’s temperate rainforests can thrive once again.
At one time, up to a fifth of the country was covered in temperate rainforest – it’s part of our history and folklore.
Every acre reclaimed will grow rich with plants, insects, birds and mammals that are part of Britain’s woodland heritage. Temperate rainforest is one of the most biodiverse ecosystems there is, home to up to 200 species of mosses and liverworts, and another 100 to 200 species of lichen. Growing on bark and rock surfaces, they paint the environment in beautiful hues of green – sometimes with flashes of red and orange – and give it that lush texture and mysterious atmosphere.
Among the trees, beautiful ferns stretch upwards and outwards, holding the rich, fertile soil in place while all the plants in the biome sequester carbon from the atmosphere. Preserving Britain’s lost rainforests – and hopefully connecting them to one another over time – will help save numerous threatened trees, mosses, lichens and fungi from extinction.
Everyone’s heard about the plight of tropical rainforest in Brazil, but did you know that Britain’s temperate rainforest is even more endangered? As an Ecotalk customer, your mobile phone tariff can make a real difference.
Ecotalk projects: protecting nature across Britain
Use the map below to find out more about what we’re doing to revive rainforest and woodland around the country...
When Ecotalk first launched in 2018, we initiated several projects to protect traditional British woodland. Now we’ve set ourselves goals that focus on a particular type of ancient woodland – Britain’s temperate rainforests.
The areas of the map in blue, pink and red are where our country’s great rainforests once thrived. Today, only fragments remain, surviving in small pockets along the western part of the country, in valleys and ravines, with high rainfall, little variation in temperature, and where moist, humid conditions prevail.
Temperate rainforest now only grows in about 5% of its original domain, but we’re on a mission to bring it back. The map below gives you access to more information about our current projects, but watch this space. Our rainforest work has only just begun.
Cwm Uchaf
Our tree-planting project on this old sheep farm is sequestering thousands of tons of carbon.
Bowyers Wood
Sussex
257 acres
If everything goes to plan, Bowyers Wood in East Sussex will host our project to reintroduce beavers in an ancient woodland setting.
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