Act to save Dartmoor rainforest from sheep, urge campaigners

Authorities asked to step in to protect Black-a-Tor Copse, an ancient temperate rainforest in Devon at risk from overgrazing

There are acorns galore and tiny oaks sprouting from tussocky grass beside the gnarled ancient trees of Black-a-Tor Copse on the northern slopes of Dartmoor national park.

But each tiny sapling grows no higher than a sheep's chin and there it stays, its new shoots and tender leaves repeatedly shorn each spring by the livestock roaming through this national nature reserve.