CIH x PlantNetwork x Plant Heritage Winter/Spring Lecture Series: Week 1 - Leigh Morris ‘Forgotten Rainforests of the UK’

The Chartered Institute of Horticulture, PlantNetwork and Plant Heritage have come together to organise a four week lecture series throughout the winter and into the spring on the topics: National Tree Week, our Green Heritage, Soil Biodiversity and Pollinators. 

Week 1: National Tree Week - Leigh Morris ‘Forgotten Rainforests of the UK’

Leigh Morris began his horticulture career in nurseries, as an apprentice at Johnsons of Whixley, then Nursery Manager at Pershore College. He taught and managed in land-based colleges, before 10 years at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh where he developed a wider conservation focus that developed further at the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland. Leigh spent 2018-25 living on islands, two years on St Helena in the South Atlantic delivering environmental/horticulture outputs, then from January 2020 as CEO of Manx Wildlife Trust in the Isle of Man, where horticulture was a core element of their work, including a large temperate rainforest restoration programme. Leigh joined the central team of The Wildlife Trusts in June 2025 as Director – International. 

The forgotten rainforests of the UK:
When people think of rainforests, they typically think of the Amazon, central Africa or Southeast Asia, yet historically the British Isles had huge areas of temperate rainforest, most of which have been cut down by people to use the timber and/or to clear land for farming or dwellings. This Atlantic woodland used to cover as much as 20% of Britain (predominantly on the west coast), but today this is less than 1% remains, with perhaps 90% of the original habitat lost. Temperate rainforests are a crucially important habitat for biodiversity and carbon sequestration, and today there are some excellent programmes of work focused on conserving the remnants of this precious habitat (aka Ghost Rainforests), and re-planting and restoring large areas. Leigh’s talk will outline the importance of this special habitat and showcase how conservation horticulture is now the core tool being employed to bring temperate rainforests back to the British Isles in scale.

To book in for this talk Click here and use the promo code: PNCIHTW26