Life in the Oak – A Stag Beetle Story

Nature & Wildlife 50' 2025 4K

The clearing on the Polish side of the Oder is a very special habitat. Here, nature still seems to be allowed to run wild. The surrounding forest is a mixed oak forest with a rich flora and fauna. Even dead trees are allowed to remain here. The nearby Oder creates a special climate that allows rare life to thrive even in winter. The white-tailed eagle hunts in the partially frozen river, as do otters and kingfishers. 

In spring, a fallen oak tree in the clearing is not only a meeting place and landmark for many migratory birds. The clearing has also become a mating ground for roe deer. In autumn, the stags gather here. 

The fallen oak tree is also a very important habitat. Mice and squirrels have hidden their winter supplies here. Above all, however, it has become a hotspot for the largest beetle in Central Europe, the stag beetle. Oak trees are infinitely important to it – both dead and alive. It finds them in this place. Its larvae have been populating the fallen oak tree for decades. Wild boars, woodpeckers and jays are after the fat ground dwellers, which they can hear working on the old oak tree and, with the help of other ground creatures, but also wind and weather, turning it into valuable humus over decades. A stag beetle larva spends 3-7 years in the ground before, usually after a thunderstorm, ending its secret life and leaving the ground as a majestic beetle. The males' mouthparts have now become huge ‘antlers’ and fighting tools. After all, they have to eliminate quite a few competitors before they can reproduce with the much smaller and inconspicuous females. To do this, they need the sap of living oak trees, because only this makes both males and females fertile. Only an intact mixed oak forest, such as the one on the Polish side of the Oder, provides optimal living conditions for the stag beetles, which have become so rare.