ISSUE5

WORDS

FROMTHE

WOODS

TERRANOSTRA

The Rings of TimeReforesting Iceland

WoodlandsCampfireLiving Life on the Edge The Oak

The WoodsThe Secret Forest

The Superb Lyrebird

Terra Nostra Magazine

// 1 // 2

Issue No.5

Contents ForewordIssue 5 is here and we’re still going strong. Once again a huge thank you toeveryone who contributes to this unique project. Without you taking the timeout of your busy lives to contribute your words, pictures, poems and art thereis no Terra Nostra.

Words from the Woods is fundamentally an issue about time. Deep time. Thetime locked away in lignum, bound up in the cells of trees. It is bothscientifically valuable but also mysterious and harks back to an earlier timewhere humanity and the wild wood were much more closely bound.

In this issue you will find articles on: restoring Iceland’s forests, how scientistscan use growth rings to examine the past, coastal mangrove forests, thewoods within our minds, and the secret forest of Ynsylas and Borth.

Pupils have also contributed the chilling story “Campfire”, an insightful articleon the Lyrebird, a short look at the woods, and a wonderful photo titled“Heartwood.”

FACT STORY POEM

LOOK OUT FOR THESE!

Mr Green

Foreword ...................... 2

Reclaiming Iceland ...................... 3

The Superb Lyrebird ...................... 5

Woodlands ...................... 5

The Rings of Time ...................... 7

Campfire ...................... 9

Living Life on the Edge .................... 11

The Oak .................... 13

The Woods .................... 15

The Secret Forest .................... 15

Suggested Reading .................... 17

Terra Nostra Magazine

// 3 // 4

Issue No.5

According to legend, around 870AD the Norwegianchieftain Ingólfur Arnarson was exiled from his homeafter killing the two sons of an earl in a blood feud.Seeking out a new place to live. Arnarson, his wife andhis brother set out aboard a ship for pastures new. It wason this ship that they spotted the rugged coast ofIceland. Upon seeing this landscape, Arnarson seizedtwo carved wooden pillars from the hold and tossedthem overboard. He swore to the Gods that he wouldsettle wherever they made landfall. For three full yearshis slaves searched for the place where these pillarslanded. When found Arnarson, good to his word, settledin that exact spot. He named this place Reykjavik,meaning Smoke Cove, after the smoke and steamspotted rising from nearby geothermal springs.

The Iceland of 870AD was very different to the Icelandof today. Whereas today only 2% of Iceland’s landsurface is covered in forests, back in the Viking periodas much as 40% of the land area was forested. Since870AD almost every tree in Iceland has been felled. TheVikings themselves are probably the most responsiblefor this loss. They cleared forests for grazing land, fueland construction materials. However, some forestshave been completely destroyed by Iceland’s veryactive volcanoes.

Despite its rugged beauty, Iceland is essentially anecological desert. By removing the forests, the Vikingsremoved a pillar of Iceland’s natural ecosystems. Theaddition of sheep, which are particularly fond ofsaplings, meant that no new trees could grow and thatthe forests could not recover as fast as they were beinglost. The lack of forest cover is neatly summed up in thisIcelandic Joke:

“How do you find your wayout of a forest in Iceland?”

“Stand Up!”

The loss of the forests has also led to problems with soilerosion as the roots of trees bind the soils together andmake them less susceptible to the wind and rain. Duststorms, as a result of loose soil being blown away, arenot uncommon in the drier months. This loss of top soil,which is where most of the nutrients are, dramaticallyreduces agricultural outputs.

However, in a climate as cold as Iceland’s it is verydifficult to grow new forests. Young trees are veryvulnerable to the cold and they are even morevulnerable where they are exposed to the elements. Assuch it is much more viable to save what is left ofIceland’s existing forests and use them as aspringboards for expansion.

Iceland has been working on its forestry problems for atleast the the last century. In this time millions of spruce,pine and larch trees have been planted. However,these are all not native to Iceland but grow relativelyquickly. Alongside these species, there has been someeffort to plant native Beech saplings in order to recoversome of what was lost. At its peak in the early 2000sIceland was planting as many as 6 million seedlingsevery year. When the financial crisis of 2008 hit Icelandand belts were tightened this number fell to a morefrugal 3 million seedlings per year.

Despite all of the effort and the millions of seedlingsplanted Iceland’s forests have only recovered veryslowly. In the 1950s forest cover had fallen to as low as1% but even after 70 years of effort this number has onlyincreased by another 1%. What seems crazy is that theIcelandic government are confident that they canincrease Iceland’s forest cover to as high as 12% by2100. Given their slow progress over the last 70 years itis understandable that some people think they arebeing bold in their claims. However, they may be aidedby something very unexpected.

Climate Change, one of the issues of our time, willactually benefit Iceland’s attempts to reforest theircountry. A gradual warming of the Northernhemisphere (especially at the poles) will make it fareasier for trees to grow in exposed locations. As well asthis there has already been an observed change in theelevation that trees can survive at. Since the 1980s,trees have been observed growing a 100m higher thanbefore. This means that there is far more land suitable

for the growth of forests than there has been in the past.As well as this, the land that has been opened up toforest regeneration is generally unused as it has beendifficult for agriculture to take off due to the sametemperature constraints.

Today Iceland has only one National Forest calledHallormsstaðaskógur, located in the East of Iceland. Itis the remnant of Birch-wood forests that would haveonce been common across Iceland. It was protectedin 1905 and became the country’s first and onlynational forest. It covers an area of just over 750hectares and contains 85 tree species from over 600different locations.

RECLAIMINGICELAND

FACT

Terra Nostra Magazine

// 5 // 6

Issue No.5

Have you ever heard of a lyrebird? The Menuranovaehollandiae is its scientific name, and it roams theforests of southern Tasmania and south-easternAustralia. It got its name from its tail, which looks like alyre (an Ancient Greek instrument). In order to mate,the males build up a dirt podium before performing aspectacular dance and song for the females. But thedance isn’t the best part. The lyrebird is able to mimicmost sounds, whether natural or mechanical, andsometimes “sings” for over 20 minutes!

The lyrebird spends most of the night roosting in thetrees and comes out during the day to scavenge fortheir favourite foods - seeds, spiders, worms and smallinsects. However, due to deforestation and hunting fortheir tail feathers, the population of lyrebirds dwindled.Gladly, people realised this and now the lyrebird’spopulation has begun to stabilise.

However, other creatures aren’t so lucky. Deforestationhas ruined many animals’ habitat, and they now havenowhere to go. Almost 80% of species live in forests ofsome kind, and we are threatening all of them. Weneed to stop deforestation, before it is too late.

The woods and forests are really important to theenvironment. The trees give us oxygen and fresh air tobreathe and the animals and insects that live there maynot have homes left if we keep destroying everything.The forest trees are getting burnt down by us. Theanimals have no homes left and some are dead due tous cutting or burning down trees.

If it keeps burning, it’s likely to turn into a completelydifferent ecosystem, with fewer trees and differentspecies of plant and animals. Many trees will die, andanimals will lose their habitat. Some species maydisappear from the area completely. Forest’s role inclimate change is two-fold. They act as a solution togreenhouse gas emissions. Approximately 2.6 billiontonnes of carbon dioxide, one-third of the CO2released from burning fossil fuels, is absorbed by forestsevery year.

Higher temperatures are worsening many types ofdisasters, including storms, heat waves, floods, anddroughts. A warmer climate creates an atmospherethat can collect, retain, and drop more water,changing weather patterns in such a way that wetareas become wetter and dry areas become drier.

THE SUPERBLYREBIRD

WOODLANDS

By Jack M, Year 8

By Maddy W, Year 8

FACT

FACT

“Heartwood”byBrodyB,Year7

Terra Nostra Magazine

// 7 // 8

Issue No.5

If you have ever come across a pile of logs or the stumpof a tree you will have noticed the many concentricrings that make up the trunk radiating out from a centralpoint. Ever since trees evolved around 380 million yearsago they have been setting down rings of growth intheir woody trunks. Each ring represents one seasonsgrowth but not all rings are the same. Some are thin andothers are thick. Some are light and others are dark. Thisvariation gives scientists clues as to what the conditionswere like in the year that the ring was laid down. Byextracting this information scientists can read the yearsin sequence looking back through time.

However, despite being so obvious to us nowdendrochronology has only been around as a scientificmethod for 120 years. American astronomer A. E.Douglass coined the method around 1900 afterrealising that tree rings could be used as a proxy forextending climate records beyond what existed in awritten format. The reality being that in 1900, not manywritten records of past weather conditions coveredmore than a few decades. By taking cores from livingtrees and examining the rings he could makejudgements on whether the climate was like the yearthe tree was growing each ring.

No self respecting scientist would make a judgementon what past climate conditions look like from a singletree’s rings though. In order to get an accuraterepresentation of what the past looked like, scientistssample many hundreds (if not thousands) of trees andcompare their findings from each. By having such alarge data set to draw upon they can excludeanomalous results that don’t fit the pattern. Forexample, trees that experience diseases or otherstressful events may lay down rings that are notrepresentative of the conditions. As dendrochronologydata sets tend to be large and compare many differentindividual trees in the sample they are considered a

highly accurate method for dating past conditions.

This method of examining past conditions really took offin the late 1980s when the University of Arizona startedsampling Bristlecone Pine in California and HohenheimOak in Germany. Both of these trees are extremely longlived. So long lived in fact that the scientists managedto assemble a complete chronology extending back8,600 years for California and 12,500 years in Germany.This single study accounts for much of ourunderstanding of prehistory and the paleoclimate ofboth regions.

Archaeologists, chemists, climate scientists and forestryagencies all use dendrochronology as a part of theirday to day activities. This is because it offers them theability to date items found in the location, track pastweather conditions and examine how old stands ofwoodland are.

However, the method is not perfect. Each species oftree does not grow in exactly the same way as all theothers. Oaks are the stalwarts of the dendrochronologyworld as they have never been known to miss a growthring in even the toughest of years. Whilst Alder and Pineare known to sometimes skip a ring or two. Worst of allare the Birches and Willows as these have suchsporadic erratic growth cycles as to be next to uselessas a predictive tool. As a rule of thumb, the slowergrowing the tree the better it is for dendrochronology.

Over the last few decades, others have begun to callinto question the results of cores taken recently. Theypostulate that the impacts of the industrial revolutionand an ever changing climate has led to moreunpredictable growing seasons. They believe that the

patterns of annual growth are changing in response toa warming climate so that a decrease in seasonalityhas led to rings becoming wider. This is a problem whenthey are compared to samples taken from far earlier.

Similarly, other are calling into question the elevation atwhich samples are taken. This is because trees ashigher elevations grow far slower and producenarrower rings. It is very easy to interpret these narrowrings as tough years especially if the scientist isn’t onlocation to take the core.

Despite these doubts, scientists are confident thatEurope’s oldest sampled tree is a Bosnian Pine that hassurvived in Greece for over 1075 years. To put that intocontext, this pine took root a mere 70 years afterIngólfur Arnarson supposedly threw his pillars into thesea off Iceland. Taking root in 941AD, this tree hassurvived through some of the most tumultuous periodsof human history.

However, the Bosnian Pine may not actually be theoldest tree in Europe. There are many contenders thathave yet to be sampled to determine their ages. Alarge percentage of these are found in graveyards andother places which are considered hallowed ground.One of these contenders can be found in a churchyardin the village of Llangernyw in North Wales. This Yewtree is estimated to be at least 4,000 years old. If that istrue this means that the Llangernyw Yew has beengrowing in one spot since the start of the Bronze Age inBritain. That is an unfathomable amount of time. OneYew, growing slowly, may have witnessed every majorshift in human history; from the end of the stone age tothe beginning of the information age.

THE RINGSOF TIME

FACT

“A society growsgreat when oldmen plant trees inwhose shade theyknow they shallnever sit.”

- Proverb

Terra Nostra Magazine

// 9 // 10

Issue No.5

It was the middle of the night. Alex and his friends werestaying up late whilst camping. From between the darktrees, there was a trail of smoke drifting up from theircampfire. The 4 were all toasting marshmallows, singingand messing around like any other friend group on asugar rush. Layla, a tall dark-haired girl who likedcreepy things, suddenly said, “Hey, do you want toknow something?”

“Depends on what it is.” replied Ben. “If it’s one of thosespooky stories, forget it. I just managed to relax afterMaya jump-scared me from behind the tent.” Mayagiggled from the corner as Ben glared at her.

Despite himself, Alex was interested. He leaned forwardas Layla replied innocently, “Oh, of course not. I wasjust going to say that this is the exact time Slendermanstarts hunting for prey.”

“Slenderman?” asked Maya. “Come off it. He’s not real,everyone knows that.”

“Of course.” Layla said lightly. “But did you know he hasa special symbol? He puts it on his territory.”

“And what is this special symbol?” Alex said, his voicelaced with sarcasm. Layla’s just going off on tangentsagain, he thought to himself.

“A crossed-out circle. If you see it on a tree, a leaf, theground… or even a person…”

“A person?” Ben asked, eating some marshmallowgoop off a skewer.

“Yeah. A person. If you see the mark on a person, he’spossessing them.” Layla’s eyes gleamed as she waitedfor their reactions.

“Wh-what? You’re making it up.” Maya scoffed.Nevertheless, she and the boys looked slightly more

edgily around at the darkened woods.

“If you see a person with that mark-”

“Then they probably drew it on with Sharpie becausethey like creepy stories.” finished Alex. “You’re justtrying to creep us out.”

“True,” Layla grinned, knowing she had begun tosucceed. “But if it’s a real mark, it’ll look like a birthmarkor a collection of freckles or something. The kind ofthing you couldn’t fake.”

“The whole thing is fake. I might go get some sleep so Ican win at swing-ball against Ben in the morning.”Maya yawned and began to head to the tent.“G’night.” Ten minutes later they could hear her quietlysnoring.

“I think it’s best if we all go to sleep.” said Alex.“Otherwise tomorrow, waking up will be like torture.”

“True.” agreed Layla. The three began to pack awaytheir marshmallows and blankets and crawled insidethe tent, ready to go to sleep.

Alex was just about to go to sleep when he sawsomething that made him wide awake. Layla’s neck,normally covered by her hair, was bare.

And on it was a birthmark in the shape of a crossed-outcircle.

CAMPFIRE

FACT

By Freya W, Year 7

Terra Nostra Magazine

// 11 // 12

Issue No.5

The biodiversity of forests vary all over the world; thespecies of trees and animals found in Parkhurst Forestwill be hugely different from those found in SierraNational Forest in California. Similarly, Parkhurst Forest isanother world compared to the mangrove forest at ElChupadero in Western Mexico. Mangrove forests are auniquely different world, where tigers and sharks liveside by side.

Imagine a forest where the trees live their lives on theedge, on the boundary between land and sea. Wouldyou be able to tolerate the toxic levels of salt andspend your life getting repeatedly flooded by risingtides? This is what mangrove trees have to survive on adaily basis. There are around 80 different species ofmangrove trees, tropical trees that thrive in conditionsother trees can not tolerate. With the ability to store vastamounts of carbon, mangrove forests are key weaponsin the fight against climate change, but they are underthreat worldwide. By protecting mangroves, we canhelp protect the future of our planet.

Mangrove trees are the only species of tree in the worldthat can tolerate saltwater, this is essential as they arefound on saltwater coasts of 118 tropical andsubtropical countries. Worldwide, mangrove forestscover an area of over 137,000 square kilometres,roughly the same size of Greece, or even an area 350times the size of the Isle of Wight. The area thatmangrove forests used to cover was once much larger,covering three-quarters of the world’s tropicalcoastlines, with Southeast Asia hosting the greatestdiversity. Where have all these mangroves gone?

Many mangrove forests can be recognised by theirdense tangle of roots that make the trees appear to be

standing on stilts above the water. This tangle of rootsallows the mangrove trees to handle the daily rise andfall of tides with ease, which is essential when mostmangrove forests get flooded at least twice per day.The roots of mangrove trees stabilise the shallow rootsystem in the soft, loose soil that is characteristic ofmangrove forests. In addition to providing structuralsupport, aerial roots play an important part in providingoxygen for respiration. Oxygen enters a mangrovethrough lenticels, thousands of cell-sized breathingpores in the bark and roots. Lenticels close tightlyduring high tide, which prevents mangroves fromdrowning. The roots of mangrove trees and how theytrap sediment along the coast help to stabilise thecoastline, and reduce erosion from storm surgescurrents, waves and tides.

Thanks to mangrove forests being situated on theboundary between land and sea, they create aremarkably diverse habitat, with the unique property ofcombining animal species of terrestrial and marineenvironments in a single ecosystem. Insects, molluscs,crustaceans, fish, reptiles, birds and mammals. Theseanimals can all be found amongst the mangrove trees.Mangrove forests are rich in food and provide shelter tooffshore species, which use their tangled roots asnurseries, such as shrimp and sharks. But that is not all.Mangroves also provide terrestrial habitat for manyspecies. The vast mangrove forests of the Sundarbans(Bangladesh and India), host the largest intact tigerpopulation in the world.

Given all that mangroves do, it is unsurprising that theforests have a special day dedicated to them: July 26,International Mangrove Day. Unfortunately, despitehaving a day dedicated to them, they are beingdestroyed at an alarming rate. We have lost 50% of theworld’s mangrove forests just in the past half century,and if current trends continue, the remaining mangroveforests could be gone within the next 100 years. Why isthis happening? What is destroying this unique type offorest?

Like the trees of many other forest ecosystems,mangroves are commonly harvested and used forfirewood, construction wood, wood chip and pulpproduction and charcoal production. While harvestinghas taken place for centuries, in some parts of the worldit is no longer sustainable, threatening the future of theforests. Mangrove forests have also often been seen asunproductive and smelly. This view of mangrove forests

has led to them being cleared to make room foragricultural land, human settlements and infrastructure(such as harbours), and industrial areas. More recently,clearing for tourist developments, shrimp aquaculture,and salt farms has also taken place. This clearing is amajor factor behind mangrove loss around the world.

The current rate of destruction of mangrove forests isthree to five times greater than the average rates offorest loss. With almost half of the world’s populationinteracting with the ocean on a daily basis, it isincredibly important to protect and conserve one of themost important ecosystems that line our coastlines.Mangrove forests are being destroyed and therepercussions of it are being heard and felt around theworld. So what is being done to protect this vitalecosystem?

To slow the destruction of these precious forests, theUnited Nations launched the Decade on EcosystemRestoration in 2020, which focuses on rebuildingmangroves and other habitats to improve biodiversityand mitigate the effects of climate change. However,even as the plight of mangroves gains internationalattention, these forests are still being destroyed at arate faster than they can be rebuilt. What can you do tohelp protect these diverse ecosystems?

LIVING LIFEON

THE EDGEBy Miss Portch

Terra Nostra Magazine

// 13 // 14

Issue No.5

Forests are places where magic happens. They aredank, brooding andmysterious. There are dark pocketswhere secrets hide shadowed by the canopy. Thereare bright clearings where all is revealed in starkcontrast. Fairy tales, folktales and myths are allentwined with the roots of the trees.

The mightiest of the trees, king of Britain’s forests, has tobe the Oak. Living for up to a thousand years , the Oakis a reflection of time itself. Year after year, decadeafter decade, the Oak bursts from death to green life.They are the ancient giants of the deep wood andstepping into a forest rich in old oaks is like steppinginto something primeval.

Today, Oaks are becoming quite rare. Oncegerminated it takes Oaks between 40 and 50 years toproduce their first acorns. These acorns fall just beforethe leaves in Autumn and slumber through the wintersafely tucked under the leaf litter. The majority of theOaks plantations today were planted by the Victoriansand very few have since been planted. Faster growingnon-native conifers became the tree of choice due totheir faster growth rate and higher profit margins. Yetthe Oaks didn’t disappear, they merely retreated intothe places where the axes did not hold sway.

Some of the best of these forests don’t even really exist.These are the forests of the mind, the creations of artistsand writers that seed the imagination.

The Brothers Grimm collected over 200 German andEuropean folk tales during the early 19th Century. Alarge amount of these tales centred on the great forestsof Europe. These dark impenetrable woodlands wherepeople are easily lost played host to all kinds of terribleevil but also great good. For example, in Hansel &Gretel the forest is a sinister place where unwantedchildren are left to die (although they ultimatelytriumph). Whereas in Snow White, the forest provides aplace of secretive sanctuary where she can hide fromthe gaze of the wicked queen.

Consider Little Red Riding Hood, where to stray off the

known path means death at the hands of the wolf.Some version of this story has existed in oral form forcenturies and contains a very real reflection of the fearforests used to instil. In an age before satellitenavigation and reliable mapping, getting lost in theforest was a very real danger. The hungry wolf is notmerely a dangerous beast but a symbol of theuntamed wildness that exists just outside the fringes ofthe path tamed by mankind.

Tolkien, who wrote the Lord of the Rings, had a verydifferent concern when writing about the forests ofMiddle Earth. His forests are being devoured to fuel thefires of unholy industry. The rise of a new industrial age,much like that Tolkien was witnessing in the early 1900s,threatened to destroy all of the greenwoods wheregood resides. Mirkwood, once cared for by a race oftree people known as the Ents, is overwhelmed by evilmagic and all sorts of horrors have moved in. Tolkien’sMirkwood is a place where the natural order has beenusurped by the actions of corrupt individuals. It is anarrative that is told time and again by those witnessingthe rise of industry, and the growing wealth of the few,at the silent decline of the natural world.

Robin Hood, the most famous of outlaws supposedlymade his home in the forest of Sherwood. From his baseamongst the Oaks, he and his merry band of men stolefrom the rich and gave to the poor. They represent thebrighter side of the forest as a place to give shelter tothe needy and hide them from those that would dowrong.

Nobody that enters Shakespeare’s woods leavesunchanged. For example, in A Midsummer Night’sDream the faeries of the forest play tricks on younglovers to great comedic effect using love spells. YetShakespeare’s forests often instil great fear. Macbeth’s

downfall is tied directly to the a wood when theWitches state that: “Macbeth shall never vanquishedbe, until Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill Shallcome against him.” Thinking it impossible for trees tomove Macbeth believes himself unbeatable. That isuntil Birnam Wood does indeed come of Dunsinane.

Perhaps my favourite of all the woods is A.A. Milne’sHundred Acre Wood. For those of you that don’t know itby name you are sure to have heard of its inhabitants.There is a bear that loves honey, a tigger that bounces,a piglet that worries too much and a small boy by thename of Christopher Robin. I write, of course, aboutWinnie the Pooh and his friends. Milne has captured thewonder of the woods through the eyes of the innocentand every page is a delight. Generations of adults willhave fond memories of their time as children in theHundred Acre Wood with Pooh and his friends. I myselfhave joined Pooh and his pals for many happy hours ofadventures through the dappled sunlight of theHundred Acre Wood. It is a magical place that muchlike the forests of Shakespeare changes all those whoenter. Pooh himself sums up how many adults feelabout their time in the Hundred Acre Wood:

THE WOODS

THE OAK

Live thy Life,

Young and old,

Like yon oak,

Bright in spring,

Living gold;

Summer-rich

Then; and then

Autumn-changed

Soberer-hued

Gold again.

All his leaves

Fall'n at length,

Look, he stands,

Trunk and bough

Naked strength.

By Alfred, Lord Tennyson

“Wherever they go, and whateverhappens to them on the way, in thatenchanted place on top of theforest a little bear will always bewaiting.”

- Winnie the Pooh

FACTPOEM

Terra Nostra Magazine

// 15 // 16

Issue No.5

Between Borth and Ynyslas in the county of Ceredigion,Wales, there is a buried secret that few get to witness.You might wonder what two rather sleepy Welsh townscould possibly be hiding as you wander across thewide sweep of the beach. Looking around you willbegin to notice strangely shaped stones standing justabove the sand in some areas along a stretch of beachtwo to three miles in length. Upon closer inspection, thestones appear to have concentric circles radiating outfrom the centre and a graininess to their texture. If youwere feeling rather sharp after your brisk walk acrossthe windswept beach you might realise that what youare looking at is not a stone but rather the remains of atree. In actual fact you are standing in the remains of anancient forest lost to the sea over 4,500 years ago. InMay 2019 the forest was revealed in all its glory bywinter storms and the buried secret of Borth & Ynyslaswas dramatically revealed.

The sudden appearance of the drowned forest raisedmany questions. Some of which were easy to answerwith the use of carbon dating paired withdendrochronology. Others, such as the scale to whichland was lost to the sea across Wales and the impacton any people living in those area, are much harder toexamine. We know that the drowned forest wasdefinitely inhabited by people whilst it flourishedbetween 5,000 and 4,500 years ago thanks to severaldiscoveries. A flint tool, human footprints and theremains of hearths have all been discovered amongstthe stumps.

Whilst it appears at though the forest was lost in onedramatic event the truth is much more complicated.The loss of the forest at Borth is but one chapter in a verylong history of rising and falling sea levels linked toclimate instability. The pollen record extracted fromcores removed from the beach shows a history ofconstant change. Before the forest flourished 6,000years ago the pollen in the cores are mostly from plantsfound in a reed swamp. Then tree pollen dominates therecord from between 6,000 and 4,500 years agosuggesting the area had begun to dry. However, as sealevels began to rise the trees began to disappear andgrasslands look over around 3,000 years ago. Toanybody living in the area at the time it would havebeen a strange landscape of dead trees surrounded bytough grasses.

Rather than be displaced from their homes the peopleof Borth and Ynyslas clearly tried to cope with the slowlyrising water levels and the slow suffocation of their landby saltwater intrusions. The discovery of a wattlewalkway in 2014 was linked to people trying toengineer ways of moving around their ever wetterenvironment. However, no amount of ingenuity couldovercome the sense of loss that is echoes in the mythsand legends the people tell.

In Wales, the myth of the Cantre'r Gwaelod or theLowland Hundred bears all the hallmarks of a WelshAtlantis Myth. The story is usually mentioned asoriginating the Black Book of Carmathen written in themid 13th Century. In this version of the tale, a large tractof land in Cardigan bay is lost after a well-maidennamed Mererid neglects her well and it overflows.

The more popular version of this tale was written downin the 17th Century and bears a more realistic telling ofthe tale. In this version the Cantre'r Gwaelod isdescribed as a low-lying land fortified against the seaby a dyke known as Sarn Badrig ("Saint Patrick'scauseway"). A series of sluice gates existed along itslength that were opened at low tide to drain the land.Two princes were in charge of these gates andunfortunately one of these, called Seithenyn, wasnotorious for going to parties and not being able to staysober. One day, Seithenyn went to a party and forgot toclose the sluice gates in time for the change of tide. Thesea water rushed in through the open gates and theland protected was lost to the sea. In times of greatdanger it is said that the church bells of Cantre'rGwaelod can be heard ringing out from beneath thewaves.

This is not the only tale linked to the the memory of aland lost to the sea. Across the world there are manydeluge myths but there is a significant concentration ofthem around the North Sea and English Channel. Manyacademics suggest that the prevalence of these mythsis a linked to a folk memory of the end of the last iceage when sea levels rose quickly due to ice melt andlarge amounts of land were lost. Where evidence of thisland such as the submerged forest at Borth and Ynyslasis revealed people tell tales of great tragedy andhardship.

Our own Island is not immune to rising sea levels andevidence of settlements beneath the waves can befound in a couple of sites. Most famous of these is the

Mesolithic submerged settlement at Bouldnor Cliff.Sitting in 11 metres of water just offshore from the villageof the same name the site is internationally important.This is because the conditions have allowed for thepreservation of organic materials that would haveotherwise been lost to time. The discovery of the sitewas a complete accident after divers from theHampshire and Wight Trust for Maritime Archaeology(now the Maritime Archaeology Trust) observed alobster discarding worked flint tools from its burrow onthe seabed in 1999. Since then several dives have beenmade on the site. This has allowed it to be dated asbeing active 8,000 years ago. At this time sea levelswere dramatically lower and the Solent was a mereriver valley rather than the sea it is today. Interestingly,the tools recovered from the Bouldnor Cliff site haveindicated that Mesolithic settlers were using tooltechnologies 2,000 years ahead of what was thought toexist. As a result, Bouldnor Cliff is probably Europe’smost important Mesolithic site.

So the next time you walk across the beach at Bouldnortake a moment to stare out to sea and put yourself inthe shoes of a Mesolithic Settler slowly watching thewaters rise around them. Let time wash over you like thewaves breaking on the shore and transport yourselfback in time and remember that in every legend thereis a grain of truth.

THE SECRETFOREST

FACT

Terra Nostra Magazine

// 17 // 18

Issue No.5

FACT

SUGGESTED READING

The Hazel Wood – Melissa Albert

A contemporary fantasy novel steeped in traditional folklore. Perfect forfans of ‘Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children’. It’s dark, twisted,and magical.

“The Hazel Wood kept me up all night. I had every light burning and thecovers pulled tight around me as I fell completely into the dark andbeautiful world within its pages.”

Robin Hood – Robert Muchamore

Hacking, heists, and flaming arrows- corrupt cops, bandits and bikers.

A modern day re-telling of the famous story. Robin and his brother LittleJohn end up living in the forest fending for themselves, after their dad isframed in a robbery. Robin is determined to do more than just survive- hehatches a plan to join forces with Marion Maid, harness his inimitable techskills and strike a blow against Gisborne and the Sheriff.

The 13-Storey Treehouse (The Treehouse SeriesBook 1) – Andrew Griffiths and T.Denton

Andy and Terry live in the WORLD'S BEST treehouse! It's got a giantcatapult, a secret underground laboratory, a tank of man-eating sharksand a marshmallow machine that follows you around and shootsmarshmallows into your mouth whenever you're hungry!

The 13-Storey Treehouse is the first book in Andy Griffiths and TerryDenton's wacky treehouse adventures, where the laugh-out-loud story istold through a combination of text and fantastic cartoon-style illustrations

The Explorer – Katherine Rundell

From his seat in the tiny aeroplane, Fred watches as the mysteries of theAmazon jungle pass by below him. He has always dreamed of becomingan explorer, of making history and of reading his name amongst the listsof great discoveries. If only he could land and look about him.

As the plane crashes into the canopy, Fred is suddenly left without achoice. He and the three other children may be alive, but the jungle is avast, untamed place. With no hope of rescue, the chance of gettinghome feels impossibly small.

Except, it seems, someone has been there before them.

By Miss Geary

The Fellowship ofthe Ring - J.R.R.Tolkien

Once again the evil forcesof Sauron surge forth fromMordor determined to bendall to their will. To achieveultimate power they seek

the One Ring, a magical item created to control all the others. The onlything that can save the kingdoms of the dwarves, men & elves is thehope placed in a small group bound together by a promise to destroythe ring.

One of the all time classics of fantasy writing, the first book in The Lord ofthe Rings Trilogy never ceases to amaze with its detailed description andvivid settings. This is the story of how a little good can be a threat togreat evil.

Want to get involved?Hello future contributor!

If you want to get an article published in thismagazine please submit a piece of writing ofno more than 800 words to Mr Green.

Our next issue is Wonder of Walking

We accept all forms of writing, photographyand art so warm up your fingers and getcreating.

Submission Deadline:

25th April 2021