X- Meet an Ancient Beech Tree

Hello? Is there someone there? Don’t just walk on by! Stop to admire my spreading branches! Come on, come closer, when was the last time you saw such a fine old beech as me? Can you believe how many seeds I’ve produced? They say I’ll drop 1.8 billion of them in my lifetime, you know. I put so much work into producing them, but only a few will grow up to be big, mature beech trees like me. The trouble is, the birds and mammals I rely on to disperse my seeds keep eating them! I must have fed thousands of mice, voles and squirrels, not to mention the deer! And its not just my seeds that get nibbled. My leaves attract so many caterpillars! Its always nice when a family of birds move into one of my holes, or build a nest in my branches. They feed those pesky caterpillars to their chicks by the hundred.