Leanne and I reckon the girth of this oak at 1.5 metres is about 4.5 metres. That's by working out it needed three of us with our arms fully spread, to encircle the trunk. So, I uploaded it.
That rather lovely platform was too high to reach wearing boots. We could both have sat up there comfortably. We could spend a night there in summer watching the animals. The tree is really tall - one of the tallest oaks I've seen! Maybe due to competition in a wood and having to grow up not out.
Another oak, this one much smaller, already provided homes for creatures.
It looks like it was struck by lightning! Or maybe a heavy branch fell off long ago?
At Pitsford, we were actually checking out a huge old sett - and think we found some evidence of current use. After all, Mischa did see a badger near here twice last summer during the bat surveys.
I also checked my quadrats. 11 worms in the lower one! And the pH reading was less acidic - 6.5. The higher one still had no worms and a pH of 5.5. I think there were more conifers at the top and I found a site today which suggested that you don't get worms in coniferous woodland. Worryingly, the same site suggested that by applying nitrogen fertiliser you increase a soil's capacity to sequester carbon. At what cost to biodiversity and flood prevention? At what cost to the quality of freshwater and freshwater habitats?
Hurrah for the oak tree! And that's neat you found some earthworms :-)