26th: Creg y Cowin – Manx (Isle of Man)

It was an absolute mission to get to Creg y Cowin. We’d just arrived on the Isle of Man and after checking into our accommodation we headed straight out to the reserve. We had been warned that there wasn’t much to see, as the reserve is exceptionally new. The land had only been bought in April 2023 with funding by Aviva and in partnership with the Isle of Man Woodland Trust. This place is the site of a huge project that over decades will create a new temperate rainforest. This type of forest used to cover huge swathes of the UK for thousands of years and following a significant investment from Aviva (£38 million) the plan is to recreate as much of it as possible.

As the reserve is so new, we were warned that all we’d really see at this stage is lots of tiny saplings covered by protective tubes.

However, as it’s such a good project we thought it worth a visit. Now, this place is very remote, and I got the location using the very handy information on Manx Wildlife Trust website and then used a satnav, without reading all the information on the website (sorry Carol!), to take us straight to it. Or at least, that was the plan, what it actually did was take us to the wrong side of the valley, where we couldn’t access it at all. So, we had to make our way all the way round to the other side, which involved re-negotiating our way past the huge truck delivering cement to a remote farm, which had blocked the whole road. The driver was exceptionally understanding given that he’d already let us past, in the other direction, just 5 minutes beforehand. He absolutely must have been cursing us and all tourists!

Once we’d made it to the right place to park, we then had a hike of about a mile or so to get to the area specified on the map, which is in the middle of a field, admittedly a field with stunning views, but a pretty empty field none the less.

However, we did see some birds and a six-spot burnet moth, so that was all great, and you really did get a sense of the future potential of the place.

I found it easy to picture the towering oaks that would be at their grandest maturity long after I’m dead and buried. That sounds like a possible idea for a piece of art right there. I think this place sums up the long-term thinking that is required to save this planet.