A wider shot of the oak in context on the edge of a buttercup meadow might leave you unsure which tree has made my favourites list.
It’s the one on the left that looks like two when its structure is laid bare by autumn: an oak tree in elegant decline.
Peering under the canopy reveals more of its story. The tree is supporting itself on a hefty, forked branch that has grown down to the ground and, most likely, rooted there.
Muscular branches prop and lean, wind and interlock, giving the impression of something wrestling itself.
Like all mature oaks, it is host to a wide range of insects, animals and birds, and is connected to an underground community we are only just starting to understand.
Shared for Becky’s TreeSquare.
Susan Rushton 
My gosh! I wonder how old that oak is. Wonderful descriptions, but I was especially taken by “Like all mature oaks, it is host to a wide range of insects, animals and birds, and is connected to an underground community we are only just starting to understand.”
me too!
It does not seem really old, but it’s not young either. I’d love to be able to look at a tree and be a lot more accurate than that!
I like oaks in their classic shapes but also love it when you find them twisting like this!
Their branches seem to be a lot more free than other trees, as if they are not constrained in the same way by having a pattern to follow.
Yes, that’s true! 🙂
I love your favorite tree. Trees in general are one of my favorite things.
It’s one of several favourites!
Oaks are so amazing, especially the ones that are older than I am. I’m so glad you took the close-ups because I think you need both the whole structure and the intricate parts to truly appreciate them.
Especially in summer they can look more compact and ordered than they really are.
wow what a tree, they are just incredible oaks. Do hope in a hundred years there will be others as old and fabulous as this one
Yes, that’s a worry the way we are going.
I grew up in an oak “forest” they will always be my favorite trees!
That must be a wonderful place for a child to grow up in.
You have some spectacular old trees with lots of character, Susan. I follow a photographer from the UK on YouTube who shoots in a lot of small woodlands with trees having all sorts of shapes. They are wonderful.
That sounds interesting. I would not have thought of looking on YouTube for woodlands.
Here is his channel. It is a nice combination of photography and old woodlands which he is passionate for.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcGPU4A6xJ1OYOkvfMoo25w
I can see why it’s your favourite. I once had a woman write a historic tree column for me. So many stories these trees can share.
We ought to have much more respect for them as a society and not see them purely in terms of what they can do for us.
A quite impressive tree it is !
I’m glad you liked it.
A fine short story of a tree
Thanks, Derrick.
What a great post! Your descriptors are so exactly right — “wrestling itself,” for instance, is such a good word capture of the energy and tension in that visual. I am in awe of the tree, but also of that buttercup meadow. I even love the words “buttercup meadow”! It would appear you are creating a unique tree calendar.
I asked my sweetheart if you had buttercups in the US. He said there are several different plants called buttercups and that they are “generally all yellow and leave pollen on your nose”.
No kidding! I so regret I’ve never had buttercup pollen on my nose!
Do you have the childhood test over there? We hold a buttercup under someone’s chin to see if they like butter – a golden reflection says you do – so I dare say I have had my fair share of pollen under my chin if not on my nose.
As a matter of fact, we do! I thought of it yesterday as I contemplated the buttercup. Ours was with dandelions. It was not a very reliable test, though: it said I didn’t like butter but my addiction to homemade cookies said otherwise.
Love oak trees, they are so majestic.
I’d love to have had chance to go into the old part of Wistman’s Wood, but it is not near by and they are probably wisely asking people to keep out now.