Oaklore - Adventures in a World of Extraordinary Trees

13 Sep

11 September, 2024

Oaklore: Adventures in a World of Extraordinary Trees cover

To celebrate the launch of 'Oaklore: Adventures in a World of Exceptional Trees', Action Oak is excited to present a blog written by the author, Jules Acton, ambassador for the Woodland Trust.

Find out more below.

The thing about oak trees is that its wildlife tends not to come buzzing out at you, not in the way that of a meadow would, said entomologist Brian Eversham, CEO of the Wildlife Trust for Beds, Cambs and Northants.

We were standing in the dappled shade of moss-swagged oak in the New Forest. I’d asked Brian if I could tag along on one of his annual, August visits to that wildlife-rich haven. I wanted to join him because, through Action Oak and the Woodland Trust, I had heard about the astonishing list of 2,300 species that are supported by the oak tree. 2,300 different kinds of birds, mammals, fungi, invertebrates, bryophytes and lichens. And these only the species we have counted. I couldn’t quite get over that figure. How could one type of plant do so much heavy lifting for our natural world?

“I wanted to join him because, through Action Oak and the Woodland Trust, I had heard about the astonishing list of 2,300 species that are supported by the oak tree.”

— Jules Acton

I wanted to meet some of species that the oak supports, to find out more about them and their worlds.

I tried doing it for myself. I peered hard at the oak trees in our village. I saw some lovely birds; blue tits, long-tailed tits, that kind of thing. I noticed a few, hard-to-identify spiders and some beetles that looked very much like little black dots. But, really, I was struggling to engage with lots of the characters that make up the world of the oak tree. They weren’t always easy to see.

So, I didn’t get very far alone. Luckily, I knew people who could help; experts like Brian, who could open doors into the world of the oak and the cast of characters it supports.

So, there we found ourselves, back in the New Forest, now down our knees, stroking the moss-swathed trunk of our glamorously draped tree. We were doing that because Brian told me, was the best way to find a tree snail. It lives in the moss and ‘it is easier to find by feeling than by looking.’ The tree snail, it turns out, is great. Even as a gardener this is a snail I could love. It is around eight millimetres long, and it is a beauty with a slender spire of a shell. When you look it up online, up pop interesting words such as ‘slightly fusiform’ meaning a spindle-like shape that is wide in the middle and tapers at the ends; think ‘skinny lemon’ for shorthand.

It turned out that stroking a mossy tree is not a bad way to be at one with oak trees in particular and nature in general. It is meditative, deeply meditative. It also probably looked deeply odd to the couple who wandered past. ‘It’s OK, he’s a naturalist’, I called out, hoping this was reassuring.

Brian introduced me to many characters that day in the New Forest. The facts poured out of him like swarming bees from a hidey-hole in an ancient oak. Among my favourites were that long-tailed tits - who like to hang out in an oak sometimes - use lichens to decorate their gorgeous rugby-ball-shaped nests.

Those nests expand to fit their growing families because these tiny birds somehow have the natural wisdom to use spider webs in the mix. The spider silk’s flexible qualities mean they can create homes that have the capacity to swell up to their needs. What a great idea, little bird.

“Each conversation, too, highlighted the vital importance of the work of Action Oak and its partners such as the Woodland Trust, for the future of the oak, perhaps the most iconic of our trees.”

— Jules Acton

Over the next couple of years, I met up with experts: ornithologists, ecologists, and lepidopterists. Lots of ‘ists’. And, while I’ve always admired our scientists, the brilliant people who sweat the small stuff when it comes to nature, my respect deepened with every conversation.

The experts open doors for the rest of us, they let us into to the world of our oak tree and the other 2,300 worlds it supports. With their help, I encountered birds, bees, butterflies, lichens, mosses and more. Each conversation, too, highlighted the vital importance of the work of Action Oak and its partners such as the Woodland Trust, for the future of the oak, perhaps the most iconic of our trees.

When I was offered the chance to write up my oaky adventures in a book, I jumped at the chance, thinking other people might enjoy finding some new ways into the incredible world of the oak too. I hope a few do. And I hope a few more people fall in love with the oak and the world it supports, because, of all the species intricately linked to the oak there is one that is key to giving them a future and, of course. It is, of course down to we humans.