The Rogalin oaks

Lech, Czech and Rus are pedunculate oaks, of the species Quercus robur. Their names refer to the legendary Slav brothers, but the trees were only given these names after the Second World War. Rus is around 700 years old. Czech, however, has been dead since 1992: three names do not mean three living trees.

Rogalin’s oak landscape extends well beyond the palace park. Oaks also stand in the meadows beside the Warta, in the former estate’s fields and in nearby woodland. A survey in 1992 recorded 1,435 trees with trunk circumferences exceeding two metres, measured 1.3 metres above the ground. This is a historical survey result, not a count of the trees standing today.

The old wood supports rare insects, including the hermit beetle, great capricorn beetle and stag beetle. Capricorn beetle larvae bore tunnels through the wood, while stag beetles depend in part on decaying timber. Conservation therefore covers both the trees and the organisms that live in them. Tree care aims to strengthen the oaks without harming insects, while new planting replenishes the woodland. An old trunk remains part of this habitat even when it no longer produces leaves.