More than 100,000 trees will be planted along a stretch of coastline in north Devon in an effort to improve habitats for endangered wildlife.

The National Trust project – on the coast at Exmoor and Woolacombe and inland at the Arlington Estate – will aim to create a wilder, wetter and more woody landscape, and improve access to nature for local communities.

The planned habitat, known as a temperate rainforest, is one of the most endangered in the UK. It once covered large areas of the western coast of Britain but has deteriorated due to air pollution, invasive species and diseases.

Temperate rainforests used to be expansive wooded habitats along the western seaboard of the UK

The consistently wet climate allows for a unique variety of plants and animals to thrive, including rare ferns and pine martens, and helps to tackle climate change.

The project will cover 50 hectares of land, with 50,000 trees to be planted at Arlington Court, 38,000 on Exmoor and 20,000 at Woolacombe/Hartland, and further planting to follow in coming years.

Among those planting trees at all sites will be community groups, including local primary schools.

John Deakin, head of trees and woodlands at the National Trust, said: “Temperate rainforests used to be expansive wooded habitats along the western seaboard of the UK, but now all that’s left are fragments, covering only 1% of Britain and limited to small patches in Devon, Cornwall, North and West Wales, Cumbria, the West of Scotland and parts of Northern Ireland.

“As a result, the rare specialist plants that depend on this habitat now desperately cling to the remaining fragments for survival, with some of the woodlands we care for in north Devon containing nearly the entire global population of some of these species, such as the Devon whitebeam. Without urgent action, these unique plants could soon be facing extinction.”

The National Trust launched its Plant a Tree fund in 2020 and has since completed 51 projects and planted more than one million trees.