Something iffy with my oaks

[sim0n]

I asked on here a couple of months ago about some strange growths on the oaks around our house. It was deduced that the spikey balls were galls from some sort of flys or wasps and weren't harmful.

Now it is spring and the buds has opened up and most of the the trees seem alright. But the one closest to my house is showing very irregular growth throughout the tree, with barely any leaves except for a couple of the lower branches (while all the other oaks around are already nice and green). It did bloom very heavily and was covered in bees for a few of days (two of my neighbors are beekeepers). Beneath the canopy there are dozens of green caterpillars hanging down and that appear to have munched up some of the leaves (although I haven't actually caught them in the act). Higher up it's just blooms and and closed buds.








This is just one oak thats really sticking out. A knocked down another one close to it (about 10m downhill) a couple of weeks ago that had been dry for the past year.

The others near the house have a couple of leaves that have been nibbled at but they appear to be much more virile overall.




So is this something to worry about or does it just mean it's going to make a ton of acorns or something?


edit: Admins move this to the Urban and Community Forestry subforum if it's more appropriate there.