One of the most common species in the wood and most easily recognised, though due to 19th century extraction of oak for commercial purposes there are none of the ancient oaks with fat trunks and broad foliage we often see on field boundaries elsewhere. In fact, oaks in the wood are far more likely to look like this:-
When the Yellow trail was widened here, the Hornbeams and Birches that were competing for canopy light were removed. Many Oaks therefore are tall with leaves concentrated in the canopy.
The lobed leaf shape of the oak makes identification easy:
Here is an unusual coppiced oak in Brook Glade:
This oak on the NE part of the Yellow trail, older than many in the wood, has grown as a ‘double’.
In the acorn season, look out for Sessile Oaks. Unlike Pendunculate, the acorns are not on separate stalks but grouped together.
More oak images in this gallery:
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