Meet the people behind our work: Llennyrch

The woodland at Llennyrch is incredibly special. Known as Atlantic rainforest, it is home to damp-loving plants found in few other places. Site manager Kylie Jones Mattock introduces us to this precious habitat and reveals what it takes to keep its spectacular features safe.

Video length: 00:02:19

I have always enjoyed being out in nature. Some of my youngest memories, from hunting for caterpillars with my mum in the garden when I was little, going out into the fields into the edge of the woods with my dad, I think that's always stayed with me and that whole sort of upbringing is why I do what I do now.

I am Kylie Jones-Mattock. I am the site manager for north-west Wales and we are in Coed Felenrhyd & Llennyrch. The Woodland Trust has been managing this site for about 25 years and it's an ancient woodland that has been planted with conifer which we are gradually restoring.

At the bottom of Llennyrch is Ceunant Llennyrch with the gorge of the Afon Prysor and that is a moist, humid environment where species of moss and liverwort have managed to cling on where they've been
lost from the wider landscape.

It's a part of the Celtic rainforest and it can rain 200 days of the year. It's steep. It's a challenging environment.

The next phase really, is how can we transform this woodland gradually from the situation it's in –essentially dark, very shaded with conifer, and all the woodland flora struggling – into a thriving, natural, semi-native woodland ecosystem?

Ancient woodland is one of our most biodiverse habitats and yet it's really rare: just 2% of the UK. So the work we do is absolutely critical in ensuring that we don't lose a really important part of our ecosystem.

It's just an amazing place to be. You feel like you're sort of a link back to our landscape as it used to be and you really feel this sort of sense of connection with nature and I really like that I'm a small part of restoring some of these places and looking after them for future generations.