Recent visitors to Titchwell will have noticed we’ve been periodically closing areas of trail to perform maintenance on the boardwalks. Last week we closed part of Fen Trail, and with the help of our weekly volunteers, Alex and Ed, we started dismantling the existing boardwalk to clear space for the new one. This led to an interesting discovery!
Under one short section of boardwalk we found two tiny oak seedlings growing, nearly side by side. This might not seem that odd at first, but a quick glance around showed that there were no oak trees nearby. How did they get there? We do have a few squirrels around the place, and the acorns might have been dropped by another passing bird – although that might not explain how they’d got under the boardwalk – but I suspect this particular bit of guerrilla gardening was actually performed by a jay.
Oak sapling under the boardwalk
Now, I find it hard enough to remember where I’ve left my keys, so it’s pretty astonishing that a jay can store up to 5000 acorns in different locations in their home territory and remember where almost all of them are! However, there are always a few that get forgotten, and many of those will have been ‘cached’ in places suitable for them to grow. Like under our boardwalk. This makes jays a very useful species to have around if you’re interested in expanding a bit of forest, as they’re great for dispersing the seeds of nut-bearing trees far and wide.
So next time you’re out in the woods and see a jay, you might catch a glimpse of it burying an acorn or two. And if your memory is as good as the jay’s, you can come back later and see if there’s a new tree there or not!
Dan Snowdon Reserve Assistant