Acorn weevils use their elongated snout to pierce a hole in a green acorn and lay their eggs inside. The larvae eat out the insides of the acorn, bore a hole in the shell in the autumn and burrow into the earth to pupate. The beetle will only emerge in the early summer.

English oaks are a favoured spot for tawny owls as they can roost next to the trunk during the day and hunt from the branches after sundown. They will make their nests in cavities in the tree.

Great tits scan English oaks assiduously for insect life, while caterpillars are a particular favourite. Invertebrates, such as spiders, centipedes and woodlice are also on the menu. They look for existing cavities in which to make their nest.

Great spotted woodpecker hunt for their favourite prey on the trunk and thicker branches of the English oak. The lesser spotted woodpecker prefers to remain in the tops of the tree amongst the finer branches of the crown, from where you can hear its loud, monotone ‘tchick’ call in spring.

The jay feasts on fruit and ripe acorns in the autumn, and stashes them as a winter food source. From March to September it is mostly animal food sources on the menu: insect life of all kinds, but also eggs and young birds. They build their bowl-shaped nest high in the dense canopy of English oaks.

The Penny bun is a large, black bolete toadstool with pores that – just like the fly agaric – has a symbiotic relationship with the roots of the English oak. Its mycelium grows together with the tree roots allowing the mutual exchange of nutrients and moisture.

Fly agaric toadstools form ‘mycorrhiza’: fungal strands that become interconnected with the plant roots forming an interface through which they share nutrients and moisture. The toadstool takes sugars from the tree while the tree is able to take up water and minerals much more effectively via the fungal network. Other types of toadstool also work symbiotically with tree roots in this way.

Some bat species seek out older oak trees and use them as a roost during the day, sheltering in cavities or behind loose bark. Old woodpecker nests may be used as maternity roosts sometimes providing a home to dozens of bats and their young.

The garden dormouse will eat anything: acorns, fruit and nuts of all kinds, but also insects, spiders and even young birds. They will scour an oak tree from top to bottom in their hunt for food. Old oaks are a favoured site in which to build a warm nest where they will hibernate for up to 6 months in the winter.

Wood mice are slightly larger than their cousins, the house mouse. The wood mouse has a sandy brown upper body contrasting with its white belly. They feast on acorns that have dropped from oak trees, and will build a nest in cavities in the tree or between its roots.

Acorns from oak trees are a staple food source for squirrels who stash them as a winter larder. They build their nests high among the branches where it is difficult for predators to reach them. A good way to identify a squirrel’s nest is by the many twigs with leaves rather than a bird’s nest made of bare twigs.

The oak bark beetle excavates a gallery under the bark of weakened or older oak trees to lay its eggs. The larvae mine out new passageways at right angles to the ‘mother gallery’. This can block the flow of sap causing the tree to die off.

The larvae of the wasp beetle live for 1 to 2 years in dead or decaying oakwood creating galleries as they eat through the wood. Adult wasp beetles feed on nectar and pollen. Their mimicry of wasps help protect them from predation.

Rather than living on dead plant material, the centipede is in fact a ruthless predator. This highly active creature hunts its prey under dead wood and among the leaf litter, seeking out insects, small spiders and other creepy crawlies. Our most common centipede actually has … 30 legs.

Woodlice use dead oakwood and leaf litter for shelter and food: they hide away in damp ground under fallen wood and eat rotting leaves and all sorts of dead plant matter.

The ‘European oak leafroller’ is a pale green moth species that lays its eggs on oak leaves. The caterpillars can cause damage to oak trees, because they feed on the young shoots of the oak when they emerge in April. They roll themselves up in a leaf to pupate, giving rise to their name.

The ‘Ectoedemia quinquella’ is a common moth species that lays its eggs on the young leaves of the English oak. The miniscule caterpillars feed on oak leaves in which they ‘mine out’ out passageways as they feed creating twisted galleries on the underside of leaves.

The blossom underwing is a rare moth species found in the environs of Palingbeek. It lays its eggs on the leaves of the English oak ensuring there is a ready source of their preferred food for the caterpillars to feed as soon as they emerge. The moths fly early in the spring when they forage for nectar on willow catkins and blackthorn blossom.

The purple hairstreak is a butterfly that lays its eggs high up in the canopy of the English oak on leaves and in the axils of twigs. The caterpillars emerge in the spring and feed on the young, easily digestible oak leaves while the adult butterflies feed on the honeydew produced by the aphids.

The larvae of the common cockchafer, known as ‘chafer grubs’, live in the earth for 3 to 4 years, where they feed on plant roots including those of the English oak. The adult cockchafers appear in May with their preferred food being oak leaves.

Aphids live in groups on the leaves, buds and new growth of the English oak where they feed on the nutrient-rich sap. There are many types of aphid, with different aphids specialising in particular tree species. The population of aphids is usually kept in check as there are a good number of predators that feed on them.

Black garden ants build their nest in the earth, under rocks or fallen branches. They climb into the canopy of the oak looking for aphids, which they tend and protect from predators. In turn, the ants are able to ‘milk’ the aphids (by stroking them with their antennae) coaxing them to secret sugar-rich ‘honeydew’ that is then lapped up by the ants.