David Atthowe, a nature guide from Norwich, has been shining UV torches on some of the best nature spots in Wales to mark the country’s annual dark skies week. Atthowe’s photos of temperate rainforest in Wales reveal shapes, structures and colours that rival a coral reef. Bio-fluorescence, where plants and animals fluoresce to communicate, is the focus of his one-man mission. With over 400 species of lichen, he calls Ty Canol Wood in Pembrokeshire one of the “most magical and special woodlands in the UK”.
Atthowe visited woodlands in Wye Valley and in Pembrokeshire Coast National Park giving tours for Wales Dark Skies Week. The ancient woodlands are full of moss and lichen which light up under UV and lots of creatures too, like wood lice and centipedes. Ruth Waycott from the Wye Valley National Landscape helped organise one of the bio-fluorescence walks, at Whitestone, a Natural Resources Wales-owned forest near Chepstow in Monmouthshire. “Bio-fluorescence is another level of communication humans cannot see. But if we shine a UV light suddenly we see a horrendous green or yellow of a plant saying, ‘you don’t want to eat me I’m poisonous’,” she said.
Atthowe is hoping to change that. “Because we don’t have the joy of being able to see in the ultraviolet spectrum,” he said, “we’re missing this magical world that’s going on all around us.” One of his favourites is the leopard slug, “It has a defensive mucus which it releases which is bright yellow under the UV,” he said. “Then in 30 seconds it changes colour to bright blue. It’s really cool. I never thought I would see flowers glow bright blue, green mushrooms lighting up the forest floor, hedgehogs that glow blue, and flowers that look like they have electricity running through them.”
His advice for anyone interested in finding the UV world for themselves? “Get yourself a UV torch and start having a look at what you can find in the garden,” he said. “Start with flowers and a caterpillar if you can find one and you’ll be amazed by what you see.
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