Dead Oak, Stanton Drew

[sean]

Dead Oak, Stanton Drew stone circle.

 

Dead Oak, Stanton Drew stone circle.

 

A dead tree is more than just a dead tree, it is many things. It is a book that can be read, past events are recorded as battle scars on its exterior but also within.These scars provide habitat in the form of cavities, cracks and crevices. It can play host to owls, woodpeckers, bats, invertebrates, spiders, small mammals. This rotting corpse provides nutrients for other plant life and trees whose seeds may have landed within it. Lichens, fungi and mosses can be found here. It is a natural sculpture, an artwork with its tapestry of many colours. It is a familiar landmark. A dead tree is alive.

[Gardiners Tree Surgery]

Amazing pictures Sean, I have a dead oak on the edge of a field in my woodland. When I first saw it I was ready to fell it for firewood.

One day when walking up to it I saw a sparrow hawk sat on top scanning the field. After that day I look at it and see new wildlife using it almost daily,

I'll be keeping it now till it eventually crumbles.