English
We have just weeks to buy Nannau – one of the UK's most remarkable landscapes.
In the heart of Eryri (Snowdonia) National Park in Gwynedd lies the magnificent Nannau Estate. Its name means ‘many streams’ in Welsh – a fitting description because everywhere you go, you hear the soothing sound of water flowing through the landscape. Shaped by more than 800 years of Welsh cultural heritage, Nannau is home to rare habitats, from globally important temperate rainforest to ancient woodland and threatened wildlife.
We need to raise £13.25 million by the end of the year to bring Nannau into our care. If we don’t, we risk it being sold to someone who may not have nature’s best interests in mind. Nannau, as we know it, might be lost forever.
Bore da, good morning. We’re here in the Nannau Estate and we’re parked at Llwybr Cynwch and then we’re going to go and explore all that this beautiful place has to offer.
Nannau’s one of the oldest, most historic estates in Wales. It was held in the same family for nearly a thousand years, really going back to the medieval period so it’s got lots of connections with the history of Wales.
Survivors from that medieval period include the many ancient trees that are scattered across its deer park. Really amazing specimens, some of which are probably among the biggest 200 trees in Europe.
One of the ancient trees famously was the site of a rather bloody story in Welsh history. Owain Glyndŵr visited the Lord of Nannau, Hywel Sele, at the height of his rebellion and he was betrayed. And legend has it that in vengeance, he slew his cousin Hywel and hid his body in the heart of one of these ancient trees only for the body to be discovered as a skeleton many decades later.
These trees are also really important for wildlife. They’re home to many fungi, to lichens, you’ll see tree lungwort, for example. Britheg y gors, the marsh fritillary, really loves these western, closed pastures of Wales. Bele’r coed, the pine marten, is reclaiming these valleys having been reintroduced about 10 years ago, it’s now breeding and spreading through the Mawddach catchment.
Our hope for Nannau in the future is that we can not only safeguard some of these really critically rare species, but we can recover nature at scale across the landscape.
Nannau is on the western seaboard of Wales, as such it’s very wet. It rains in this area perhaps 200 days a year and that creates the climate that’s perfect for our temperate rainforest species to thrive in the ancient woods of Nannau.
Temperate rainforest is now vanishingly rare, rarer than its tropical equivalent and the extent of our rainforest which once would’ve stretched relatively unbroken along the whole western side of the United Kingdom is now really fragmented. So these last refuges are really important to protect, to expand and to buffer.
Working here we can help to connect all these habitats and enable some of these species to be slightly less isolated, to give them space to move and suitable management for the future.
So Nannau is really a cornerstone of our rainforest landscape here in Wales, located at the junction between the Mawddach and the Wnion rivers. It really is one of the most important locations for rainforest habitat in Wales.
For the future, we really want to secure this really special place and to work really closely with the community, with local stakeholders and with local people to recover nature at scale in this critically important landscape. So this really is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to secure something that’s so special, so precious for nature and for people, for future generations.
of stunning woodland, rainforest, ancient trees and upland habitats.
An area equivalent to more than 2,000 football pitches.
needs to be raised by the end of the year.
Help us secure Nannau's future.
of the UK has temperate rainforest.
It's globally rare and internationally important. We can't afford to lose Nannau's rainforest.
Credit: Leandor Ward / Wayfarer Media LTD
Nannau is home to temperate rainforest and ancient woodland. UK rainforests are globally rare habitats, thought to be more threatened than tropical rainforests. Temperate rainforest, like the habitat found at Nannau, makes up less than 1% of the UK. Despite Nannau’s impressive ecological riches, it is fragile and in decline. We owe it to the planet to protect this landscape.
Credit: Tony Cox / WTML
Nannau’s rainforest and ancient woodland provide a sanctuary for threatened wildlife. Hazel dormice nest among the hedgerows and woodland understorey, while marsh fritillary butterflies – one of the UK’s fastest-declining species – find refuge across the site. Pine martens move through the trees, elusive hawfinches forage through ancient and veteran oaks, and a rich array of bats hunt in the canopy each night.
Credit: Phil Formby / WTML
Nannau’s famous deer park is dotted with ancient trees, including one of the largest oaks in Europe with a gnarly girth of 9.1 metres. Rare trees such as wild apple, aspen and whitebeam have also been discovered here. Vulnerable veteran trees are ageing without replacements. We must protect Nannau’s young trees so they can become the ancient trees of the future.
Credit: Leandor Ward / Wayfarer Media LTD
Nannau is one of Wales’s oldest and most remarkable historic estates. It dates back to the 11th century with a past spanning medieval Wales, Owain Glyndŵr and the Vaughan dynasty. Legend has it that Owain Glyndŵr killed his dissident cousin Hywel Sele in the grounds of Nannau, concealing his body inside a huge hollow oak. Hywel’s skeleton was discovered decades later inside the tree, which became known as the Haunted Oak or Ceubren Yr Ellyll. By protecting Nannau, we can ensure that stories like this remain part of Wales’s living heritage.
To be able to buy such a unique Welsh jewel, really is unprecedented for us here at the Woodland Trust. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for people and wildlife we simply can’t let slip through our fingers.
This opportunity exists today, but in just a few weeks it will be gone. We’ve already raised more than half the £13.25 million we need. Will you donate to bring us one step closer to securing one of Wales’s greatest national treasures forever?
Under our stewardship, Nannau will become a beacon for nature-friendly farming in Wales and the UK. Without us, its deterioration will accelerate and its future is uncertain.
Every penny will help fund the purchase and the vital restoration work needed over the next decade, leaving a legacy that will benefit wildlife, climate and communities for centuries to come.
Please help protect Nannau. Your kindness today could be part of the story that secure's Nannau future.
Call us on 0330 333 3300 between 8.30am and 5pm, Monday to Friday, quoting 'Nannau' and our friendly team will be there to assist.
Send a cheque to our head office at Nannau Appeal, Woodland Trust, Kempton Way, Grantham, Lincolnshire, NG31 6LL. Please make cheques payable to the Woodland Trust.
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