Are Britons becoming nature nitwits? One in five don't know oak trees come from acorns
It's the national tree of England and a symbol of Britain’s seafaring power for hundreds of years.
Yet according to a new survey, one in five adults have no idea that oak trees spring from tiny acorns.
Instead, millions of ‘nature ninnies’ believe acorns fall from sycamore, elm or birch trees.
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Worrying: Millions of 'nature ninnies' believe acorns fall from sycamore, elm or birch trees
The survey also found that 15 per cent of adults think cows’ milk comes from male cattle, while a similar number are unaware that tadpoles turn into frogs.
The shocking state of ignorance about nature is highlighted by an opinion poll of 2,000 adults carried out in the run up to Open Farm Sunday, when hundreds of farmers will open their gates to the public.
Fewer than half the adults surveyed said correctly that bees make honey from nectar, with 59 per cent wrongly believing that honey comes from pollen.
Only half knew that robins live in Britain all year round, while two thirds did not realise that sparrows – one of the most common UK birds – also live here all year.
And although the call of the cuckoo is one of the great symbolic heralds of the spring, one in ten people said the birds live in the British Isles all through the winter. Farmer and TV presenter Adam Henson admitted he was disappointed by the level of public ignorance revealed in the poll, commissioned by the farming and environment charity Leaf.
‘As a farmer I am passionate about the great British countryside and like most farmers I spend a considerable amount of my time looking after it – along with all the wildlife that lives there too,’ he said.
‘I’m disappointed to see that so many people seem to be confused about the countryside and the role that farmers like me play in nurturing wildlife and tending the land.’
Three out of ten people questioned could not identify the red triangular road sign for frogs or toads crossing – with one in six believing it means ‘beware of frogs’.
Women and men got a similar number of answers wrong.
However, women were more likely to know that oak trees come from acorns – and that milking cows are female.
All ages were unaware of the role of farmers in looking after the countryside, Leaf said.
Around 95 per cent did not know that they manage over three quarters of the UK’s land, and fewer than one in four knew that farmers look after most of the hedge- rows, walls and fences in the countryside.