Most English oaks (Quercus robur) also known as the pedunculate oak, older than three hundred years old are very scarce indeed, but a few remain hidden within the heathland areas of Dorset at least. There are many within the conurbation of Bournemouth and also within the New forest and surrounding areas. some remain within parks and arboretums. This fine tree is in the Purbeck region of Dorset and must be one of the counties largest and oldest oaks. This tree is over six and a half meters in circumference and its crown branches reach nearly twenty meters out. It may be over four hundred years old and is still going strong. The strange human next to it is me , for scale.(photo by Marc Eldridge) .Oaks are very special to Britain and the rest of northern Europe as they are the main woodland tree creating habitat for thousands of different species, from lichens, fungi, invertebrates and flowers.There is a huge amount of insects that depend solely on this species of tree. We must try to protect oaks more vigorously especially the larger specimens. Many old oaks have been felled near to where I live, much to my disappointment. It is the older trees that hold all the different life forms and just the removal of one old oak, could spell disaster to a single species of invertebrate.
In some shady woodlands under beech trees, the broad leaved helleborine ,(Epipactis helleborine) can still be found in flower; it is a late flowering orchid species.
