OK, so anyone imagining scorching temperatures right now with us spending most of the day wearing almost nothing, jumping in the sea to cool off now and again, needs to understand just what the term 'rainforest' actually means. Well, first of all there is the rain. To qualify there must be at least eighty inches (204 centimetres) of the stuff each year. Along with this, as the name suggests, there must be trees, most of which, according to the standard definition, should be evergreen. But there are other things that grow only in this environment which are distinctive to a rainforest. These are plants that grow on other plants, 'epiphytes', and the reason they can grow here is because of the presence of moisture in the air. They can obtain nutrients from the water, dust and debris around them. Although they do need other plants on which to grow they are not necessarily parasitic.
They might be ferns, mosses, and lichens but there will also be fungi which, although technically not plants, will feed upon decaying plant matter.
So if we live in a rainforest here in Scotland then what are we missing? Could it be the heat? Of course we all know about tropical and sub-tropical rainforests and how these are so endangered due to the actions of us humans but there are other places, like on the west coast of Scotland, where the annual rainfall meets the definition and the epiphytes flourish but the climate is definitely not tropical. This is called a 'Temperate Rainforest'. Although not scorchingly hot here we do benefit from a climate that is less variable than other places in the UK; milder winters - frosts are less common - and cooler summers too. The true wild characteristics of a rainforest are often difficult to spot but they are here if one knows what to look for. 
We have been on guided rainforest walks locally, taken to the best places to look for particular mosses, places where the ferns are hanging from the branches and the lichen and funghi cover every available bare piece of wood. The trees are often not evergreen (although the Scots Pine can only be regarded as a native) which means that the whole forest changes with the seasons so it is always an exciting place to visit at any time of year.
Did we know, when we first came to live here, that we would be living in such an environment? Well not really, although we did know about the rain. We have learnt so much since we moved here and now take any opportunity that comes along to learn more about just how precious (and vulnerable) the environment around us is. We have also learnt to live with the rain, to adjust our lives so they fit in around it. We know there will always be a dry spell that follows rain, no matter how long we have to wait for it. One of the features that comes with so much rain is the way it runs away, soaking into the land or else rapidly gushing downwards into the sea. We try not to be too smug about it when we hear the flood warnings and see pictures of houses inundated by rising water levels elsewhere in the UK but despite us getting significantly more rain here this is generally not the way it affects us. This may be largely because this part of Scotland is sparsely populated by humans so there is much more uncultivated land and this soaks up the rain and then releases it gradually over time. There is also the fact that our hills are steeper than much of the rest of Britain so there is less chance of water pooling and causing flooding. What can happen after significant rainfall, however, is that those steep hillsides become unstable, particularly if the soil is not held in place by tree roots, and landslips can cause significant disruption when this happens.
Which brings us neatly back to the forests. We may live in a temperate rainforest climate but this does not mean that everything is thickly covered with rainforest trees. Sadly much of the forested land is cultivated, covered with a single species of non-native tree being grown for the value of the timber. These areas are clear-felled then re-planted on a multi-year cycle and lorries carrying massive cargoes of logs are a frequent sight on our roads, logs which are then loaded onto ships and taken away for processing into chipboard or other wood related products. Maybe our kitchen worktop came from locally grown trees, who knows.
As I write this it is not, for once, raining outside. Indeed the sun is out and the forecasters predict a run of rain free days. We welcome this, of course, but before long we will be missing the rain and wondering whether our climate is going to change into something else.
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