The elders loved Ivy (and Meg) visiting – they touched, watched, played with the young life, as we talked Oak. In our circle (Kally’s crochet hock carved out of oak and Jills bur-oak plate) – we welcomed Rupert as well as Meg and Ivy.
Our collective mind of Oak
- The ruling majesty of the woods, the wise old English oak holds a special place in our culture, history, and hearts. It supports more life than any other native tree species in the UK; even its fallen leaves support biodiversity.
- The national tree of England (Ireland, Albania, Finland and Germany)
- Pedunculate Oak (Quercus robur) Grows in Kaliwood, acorns have stalks
- Sessile oak (Quercus petraea). Its leaves have stalks and its acorns don’t have stalks (whereas it’s the opposite in English oak which has tiny or no leaf stalks and acorns on longer stalks).
- Oak, Turkey (Quercus cerris). A pretender to the throne, the Turkey oak was introduced to the UK in the 1700s and is now impacting our native oak populations. It’s less valuable to wildlife, but much faster growing and a host of the knopper oak gall wasp.
- Holm Oak, at Holkam
- In the wine growing area Chinnin Blanc and Chinnin Vert grape variety would grow only on…
- Standing in front of a painting I have had since 1960’s, it dawned on me it was indeed of an oak, depicting Charles II hiding in it, as he escaped from the Parliamentarians.
- Royal Oak pubs – named after that very oak
- I remember the Royal oak,run by my uncle and evenings hearing the gravelly voices and laughter rising from below the floor boards, as I lay in bed.
- A friend gave us an oak sapling for our wedding 20 years ago now its 30 meters tall
- Tannins the the bark used for tanning leather (with the urine of per-pubescent boys?)
- The last remnant of an oak in Greenwich park.
- Life cycle of an oak, veteran stage 3-400 years.
- Mimic thunder?
- Even the Dead wood standing is a home of thousands of benefiting insects, fungi etc
Esther and Andrew from Hungary add:
- Andrew says that there is or was an ancient oak in the Bükk hills north of Budapest where Rakoczi Ferenc, an aristocratic revolutionary, was said to have hid from his enemies in the C18 or C19.
After wonderful movement and tapping instructed by Nicky, we drew an oak leaf. Surprisingly wavey and irregular, before wondering off into the Oak Nuttery wood to find the evidence to 5 questions.
- Find an oak with a fairy exit (circle) or a beetle exit (D shaped from the Agrilus bettle contrtributing to Acute Oak Decline)
- Find a dead oak
- Find a healthy oak
- Find an oak with leaves coming from the branches
We made our Green Man, out of oak leaves, and inspired by Virginia.
With Oak wine from Perthshire, sourced by Nicky, we sang Oak and Ash and Thorn. Here are the Long Johns singing it.
In our closing circle, this being the last day of term, we reflected on all the trees we had studied, and what we remembered in our hive mind.
- I remember the eyelashes of field maples blossom and the pagodas of Hornbeam
- Ash was used to make the morgan cars chassis frame
- We learned an awful lot and it’s been a great pleasure
- I was pulling off into a carpark where I saw a scraggly thing, I shouted sycamore! as I remembered the action that Kally did with her arms turned down in a u shape
- Hornbeam, the sailors horn pipe and the mast of a ship
- Hazel leaves are called coins, seeds keys, I learnt a lot and how to tell the difference between the sycamore and maples
- The sweep of a Norwegian maple leaf
- Norwegian wood
- The laughter that developed in an instant and the art of crafting a quiz
- Most of our woodland is hard wood
- The great thing about forgetting is you can learn again
- Hornbeam, I loved that not everyone knew about them but now I love that they do
- I’ve been looking at a picture in my house since the 1960’s, I never realised it was an oak, it’s the one that Charles ii hid in. I have thoroughly enjoyed this term.
- The singing, particularly Nicky and Kally with their funny made-up songs
- The detail doesn’t come easy and here I have the opportunity and the time to look at the trees detail, it has been wonderful alongside everyone.
As usual no one was attempting to leave at the end. What a glorious term, what a lovely community. Thank you woods.
How Oaks are important for mitigating climate change
They aren’t just sources of food, medicines and materials. The carbon-locking qualities of trees and woods are crucial in the fight against climate change.
And trees do more than just capture carbon.
They also fight the cruel effects of a changing climate. They can help:
Prevent flooding
Reduce city temperature
Reduce pollution
Keep soil nutrient-rich
ERYSIKHTHON (Erysichthon) aka Eric and how you must not destroy and ancient oak
Erysichthonwas a Thessalian king.
Near to where Erysichthon resided was a grove sacred to the goddess Demeter. The grove abounded with every sort of tree, but at its heart was a mighty oak
Into the grove came Erysichthon, and his attendants, intent on cutting down the trees to construct a banqueting hall.
The oak tree fell beneath the axes of Eryischthon and his men, and with the death of the mighty oak, the dryad associated with it died also. The other dryads then went to Demeter and demanded punishment be given to Erysichthon.
Demeter came to her sacred grove in disguise when the first axe blow fell, and attempted to dissuade Erysichthon from his action. Yet Eric continued.
Demeter did indeed meet out punishment.
In recognition that the wood from her grove was to be made use of in a banqueting hall, Demeter would called on Limos, the Greek goddess of hunger, who determined that Erysichthon would suffer insatiable hunger. From the moment Erysichthon awoke, to the moment he went to sleep, he would be eating, as banquet after banquet was laid before him; and yet the more he ate, the more he craved food. Demeter also ensured that his nights were also disturbed, for the Oneiroi were sent out, and each night Erysichthon would dream of food and banquets.
Such insatiable hunger. Banquet after banquet soon saw Erysichthon’s household run out of food, and though he then ate the horses and mules, still Erysichthon remained hungry.
Then, Erysichthon sold his own daughter, Mestra, so that he could buy more food. Mestra did not wish to be owned by anyone, and praying to her former lover Poseidon, she asked for help. Poseidon gave Mestra the ability to change shape, and so she escaped from the man who she had been sold to. When Erysichthon realised that his daughter could change appearance at will, he decided that he could sell her time and time again. This money though was spent on food.
However Erysichthon was so hungry that he began to eat himself, and this it was that his insatiable hunger eventually killed him.
How to measure a tree to determine its age
The girth of a tree can be used to estimate its age, as roughly a tree will increase it’s girth by 2.5cm in a year. So, simply measure around the trunk of the tree (the girth) at about 1m from the ground. Then divide the girth by 2.5 to give an age in years.
A bit about the D beetle and Acute Oak Decline
Agrilus biguttatus Fab. (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) is a European bark-boring beetle whose larvae feed in the vascular tissue of oak trees. Until recently, it was considered rare in Britain, but sightings have become more frequent and it is often found on weakened trees suffering from Acute Oak Decline (AOD). This rapidly acting syndrome is characterized by patches of dark sticky fluid exuding from cracks on the trunk, with areas of necrotic tissue beneath, probably caused by a pathogenic bacterial component. However, the frequent association of AOD with the larval galleries and distinctive adult exit holes of A. biguttatus has raised concerns that the beetle may be contributing to the AOD syndrome or hastening the mortality of affected trees.
Kinda Elders in the woods 