Each year pied flycatchers, common redstarts and wood warblers make the risky flight across oceans and continents to summer in Scotland’s temperate rainforests.
But farming, commercial forestry and now climate change have reduced these once vast Atlanic oak woodlands to a few remaining fragments.
Award-winning documentary filmmakers Saskia Coulson and Colin Tennant (Coulson & Tennant) have teamed up with naturalist and writer Stephen Rutt and composer and musician Ben Please, to makeRefugia: A Celtic Rainforest, which explores the astounding richness of Galloway’s remaining areas of Celtic rainforest.
The film will have its first screenings at Wigtown Book Festival, which runs from 25 September to 4 October.
Coulson & Tennant, who like the rest of the team live in Dumfries and Galloway, spent a year filming the flora and fauna in the darkest depths of the woodlands.
They also incorporate the voices of local peole (including conservationists and landowners) into the film alongside the sounds of nature.
Colin said: “We wanted to capture the wonder of the remaining areas of Galloway rainforest and birds and plants that find refuge within them.
“That includes everything from lichens, delicate ferns and oak trees, to the multitude of birds that either live there year round or migrate from Africa.
“Colourful visitors like the redstart, the wood warbler and the pied flycatcher come to Scotland from the rainforests of Africa each year, but as the Galloway rainforest declines so do their numbers.”
But the film is one with wider implications.
Colin added: “This is a film that considers migration as a universal and deeply natural act. It aims to draw parallels between ecological migration and human movement, reflecting on ideas of survival, belonging, refuge, and home.
The few hundred remaining hectares of Galloway rainforest tend to be on steep hillsides or tucked away up valleys – either too difficult to deforest or kept and managed as a source of wood.
Nowadays they are often in the care of conservationists, meaning there is some hope for their survival.
Stephen said: “It was an absolute gift to be the scriptwriter on this project – the most beautiful project I have ever been involved with – trying to get the story of the wood and its birds to dance with the footage and music.
“These are truly glorious places where spring blooms in a blue haze of bluebells, scattered with red campion and white wild garlic flowers and is a raucous chorus of difficult-to-see birds.
“It is sobering and saddening to think that where so much of Galloway is now covered in commercial conifers it was once wild with rainforest.”
Refugia was commissioned by the region’s arts development organisation Upland CIC and Moving Souls Dance as part of their long-running Artful Migration visual arts programme.
Previous Artful Migration projects have focused on individual bird species where Refugia is taking a broader look at an entire habitat.
Kat Hill, Creative Director of Upland, said: “Upland is delighted to be supporting this important project from such accomplished creatives.
“At a time when so many people worry about the state of the world, Refugia reminds us of the importance of care to and connection for birds, landscapes and people in the face of vulnerability and fragility.”
What is Celtic rainforest?
Stephen describes Celtic rainforest – or temperate rainforest – as the ancient woodlands found along the Atlantic edge of Britain. They are places where life is sodden and green and contrary: wet in summer and warm in winter.
Defined by climate and the life they hold, they require at least 1.4 metres of rain to fall upon them a year – 10% of that in summer – and for the average temperature of the hottest month to stay below 16 degrees Celsius and the coldest month to remain above two degrees.
They are places where life can be primitive, like ferns and liverworts, plants that evolved early and make do without flowers. But they are also home to the complex lives of lichens, the opaque breeding behaviour of pied flycatchers and the piggybacking of epiphytes – plants growing on plants.
Organisations such as the RSPB and The Galloway and Southern Ayrshire UNESCO Biosphere are working to conserve what remains.
The Refugia team
Refugia: A Celtic Rainforest is the creation of a highly accomplished team, all based in the region:
- Saskia Coulson and Colin Tennant (Coulson & Tennant), are an award-winning photography and filmmaking partnership whose work explores relationships between people, place and the natural world (https://wearectproductions.com/).
- Stephen Rutt, naturalist and award-winning author of five books including The Saltmarsh Library, which was commissioned by Wigtown Book Festival (https://stephenrutt.com/).
- Ben Please, BAFTA and Oscar nominated film composer, musician and one half of Wigtown’s internationally celebrated The Bookshop Band (https://www.porterandplease.com/).
PLEASE NOTE: Pictures of the team are by Colin Hattersley. Film stills are by Coulson & Tennant
-Ends-
Notes
- For more about Wigtown Book Festival see www.wigtownbookfestival.com
Refugia at Wigtown Book Festival
First Screening (premier)
- Date: 27/09/26
- Day: Sunday
- Time: 7.30pm
- Location: Newton Stewart Cinema, 33–35 Victoria Street, Newton Stewart, DG8 6NL
- Details: The screening (approx. 30 minutes) will be accompanied by a live performance of the original score. After the screening there will be a Q&A for approximately 30 minutes.
Second Screening
- Date: 30/09/26
- Day: Wednesday
- Time: 2pm
- Location: Newton Stewart Cinema, 33–35 Victoria Street, Newton Stewart, DG8 6NL
- Details: There will be no formal Q&A after the film but if school children are coming from Newton Stewart, then there may be an opportunity for Colin and/or Saskia to have an informal Q&A with them.
Further information
- High-quality stills of Saskia, Colin and Stephen as well as photos from the project are available on request.
- Members of the team would be happy to provide interviews.
- Refugia: A Celtic Rainforest is the culmination of the Artful Migration Residency Programme commissioned by Upland and Moving Souls Dance in partnership with the Galloway & Southern Ayrshire Biosphere and RSPB Scotland. Funded by Creative Scotland.
About Upland
Upland CIC (Community Interest Company) supports artists and makers based in, and with connections to, the region. It delivers, events, training, networking, support and opportunities as part of a year-round programme to benefit the region, its artists, communities and economy. Upland CIC runs the annual Spring Fling contemporary visual art and craft open studios weekend in Dumfries and Galloway. It works closely with other arts bodies in the region to further-strengthen the sector. Upland is based at Gracefield Arts Centre in Dumfries and exists to:
- provide leadership in the visual art and craft sector regionally, collaborating with the cultural sector across Dumfries and Galloway and beyond.
- raise the profile of the visual art and craft sector of our rural area in a national and international context and build meaningful partnerships to support this.
- listen to local visual artists and makers and respond by providing relevant support and act as a collective voice to advocate on their behalf.
- support the engagement of a wide diversity of audiences in visual art and craft and initiate opportunities that promote inclusive, meaningful participation.
- produce and facilitate ambitious creative projects that are innovative and experimental in approach.
Its funders are Creative Scotland, D&G Council, The Holywood Trust, ASWT, Barfill.
For media information contact Matthew Shelley on 07786 704299 or at Mjhshelley@hotmail.co.uk or call Upland on 01387 213 218.
About Wigtown Festival Company
Wigtown Festival Company, 26 South Main Street, Wigtown, Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland, UK, DG8 9EH. Wigtown Festival Company is a company limited by guarantee with charitable status. Scottish Charity No. SC037984
About Moving Souls Dance
- Moving Souls Dance was set up in 2017 to combine the skills and experiences of its directors, Virginia Wollaston and Nicholas Paton Philip.
- Virginia has worked with professional dance companies as a practitioner (Second Stride, Extemporary Dance Theatre, Shobana Jeyasingh Dance Company) and within the funding system as Dance Officer (Arts Council West Midlands) and Cultural Officer (Birmingham City Council). She is now an independent producer offering professional services to artists, arts organisations and outdoor arts events involving Carnival costume and dance.
- Nicholas has worked in the social care sector for 30 years, from adult mental health and mediation to residential setting with young people and as a social worker for children in care. His experiences are grounded in therapeutic management and creative group work. Nicholas is an ICF approved life coach offering one to one sessions.
- The company partners with arts organisations to co-create participatory projects with young people and communities, providing leadership development for artists and producers. We encourage personal development within each project to empower artists and participants to engage in meaningful dialogue through art that might touch on issues of social and ecological importance.
- See http://movingsouls.dance.
About VisitScotland
VisitScotland is Scotland’s national tourism and events organisation. Its core purpose is to drive the visitor economy, growing its value in Scotland. As an economic growth agency, VisitScotland’s activity focuses on three key priorities – market development, place development and business and experience development. VisitScotland’s work helps deliver the ambitions of the national tourism strategy, Scotland Outlook 2030, for Scotland to be a world leader in 21st century tourism, and Scotland’s National Events Strategy 2024 – 2035.
It leverages tourism and events as a force for good for all of Scotland’s people and places and builds Scotland’s international profile as a leading place to visit, live, work, study and do business. For VisitScotland’s press releases, tourism statistics and frequently asked questions go to visitscotland.org or follow us on @VisitScotland on LinkedIn.
About Creative Scotland
Creative Scotland is the public body that supports culture and creativity across all parts of Scotland, distributing funding provided by the Scottish Government and The National Lottery. Further information at creativescotland.com. Follow Creative Scotland on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
For media information: Matthew Shelley at Matthew@ScottishfestivalsPR.org or 07786 704299.
