Reflections on life, meaning and purpose

A day in the life of an oak tree, from mistle thrush in the morning to mice at midnight…

Among their deceptively inert branches, trees shelter feathered Pavarottis, scuttling beetles, opportunistic fungi and fierce owls. John Lewis-Stempel recounts a day in the life of an oak and the creatures that call it home. Our friends the trees have an unremarkable life, or so it seems to us. They come into leaf, their fruit drops, or is gorged on by birds and the winds of autumn…