Oak Trees by Sue Burch
Listening to the bird song as I take my morning walk in early spring, I notice the abundance of oak trees and looking up into the canopy of one of these oaks I am rewarded by the sight of a goldcrest searching the crevices for insects.
Fascinating facts about the oak – it is said to be the host to more varieties of lichen than any other tree and is able to support many thousands of different creepy crawlies, lady birds, lacewings, earwigs, spiders, woodlice, millipedes, aphids and caterpillars. These insects bring in the foraging birds that delight us such as goldcrests, treecreepers, blue and great tits as well as woodpeckers. Oaks with some ivy growing up their stems will give refuge for roosting birds and under the leaf litter at the base of the tree you may see a wren, robin or blackbird scouting around for something to eat.
Not only does the oak play host to such a wide range of wild life but it stores carbon too; a single mature oak can lock up 8000 tonnes of carbon1. There must be hundreds or maybe thousands of oak trees in our parish as each field bordering this walk has a good number in their hedgerows.
Some of my information is from a book written by a local wildlife expert, Jim Flegg, ’Oakwatch’ which describes the year of an oak tree and its associated woodland setting now, unfortunately, out of print.
1Dave Goulson The Garden Jungle.