A is for acorns

If you’re like me and you love nothing more than scuffing your way through fallen autumn leaves, then you might have noticed considerably more acorns lying beneath the branches of the oak trees than we’ve seen for a while. 

When I last did this in earnest, I was looking more at the oak trees, in preparation for writing an entry in ‘Loughborough A-Z’ which eventually turned out like this:

"Q is for … Quercus Petraea

The Outwoods, an area popular with Loughborough people, is an ancient woodland populated with native oak trees of the sessile variety, Quercus Petraea. The Holywell Woods also hosts Quercus Petraea, along with the native pedunculate oak, Quercus Robur, and ash and silver birch. The leaves of Quercus Petraea have stalks but the acorns don’t, while the leaves of Quercus Robur don’t have stalks, but the acorns do. The English Oak tree is one of the locally sourced, native species of memorial trees available at the Natural Burial Ground in nearby Prestwold and is also used to make memorial benches."

This year, 2022, however, the leaves have fallen far earlier in the year than I can ever remember, possibly due to the lack of rain, and the need for the tree to put all its energy into its trunk, branches, and seeds. When I saw so many acorns dropping, I did wonder if I simply hadn’t been paying enough attention in previous years, but I was relieved to learn that this wasn’t the case! 

I had forgotten that this year was likely to be a mast year, a year in which the oak tree intentionally produces more acorns than in the previous 3 or 4 years, perhaps to ensure that there are far too many to be eaten by squirrels and other creatures, so that there is more chance more oak trees will grow. This mast year happens every 4 or 5 years, and is followed by low acorn production in subsequent years.

Fallen oak leaves, March 2020

However, it appears that 2020 was also a mast year, and that was only 2 years ago. And, in November 2021, the Woodland Trust expressed its concern for the native oak tree, as lack of rainfall can cause oak trees to be more likely to decline. The Tree Council, however, suggest that while there can be several consecutive years of low acorn production, it is rather more unusual to see mast years together, but nevertheless they have suggested that most oak trees seem to be doing well this year.  

So look out in 2026 or 2027 for a bountiful crop of acorns, maybe some new, infant trees, and hopefully some very healthy adult trees!

Autumn leaves on Steeple Row, 2013

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posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

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Dyer, Lynne (2022). A is for Acorns. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2022/11/a-is-for-acorns.html [Accessed 4 November 2022]

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