Jays are key to oak woods

If you can control factors like grazing animals and shade, then you just wait and the trees will come.

In the case of the oak wood, then a member of the crow family, the jay, is the main agent of spread.

Jays hoard acorns in the autumn and secrete them away for future consumption.

They collect acorns from a nearby oak wood and carry them off to be buried in hidden cache.

However, they either forget some of their hidden treasure, or else it isn’t needed and so the acorns sprout the following spring as young seedlings, which become saplings, and ultimately new oak trees.

So to get your oak wood, there is little need to plant.

However, perhaps we need a little more patience and nature will do its own thing.

Of course, in some situations, where conditions are difficult, a site is quite small, or a long way from an older wood, or for a quick result, then tree planting may still be the answer.

Follow ‘Ian’s Walk on the Wildside’ blog, www.ukeconet.org for more information.