Nuts

 

We've both regular hazelnut and cobnut/filbert variety trees in our garden, several of them annually bear fruit. This year we've not seen as many as we'd expect, and usually the cob produce a noticeably larger nut, though this year their nuts are near comparable, the cob being slightly smaller than usual and the hazel slightly larger. Both varieties though are equally tasty.

Cobnuts

 

The year before last I pollarded (after a fashion) our 10 year old Cob Hazel (Corylus). I'd imagined it would've taken a few years before the tree produced nuts again. I was mistaken. I've spied quite a few good sized nuts so far.

Nuts

Along the hedgerows, through the coppices and in my back garden, hazelnuts are forming. Last year was a real bumper year; I wonder how we'll fare this season. 

Autumn Equinox

Man, that came around disturbingly quick, the Autumnal Equinox is here already! I say that, though out in the forest you know it. Today may be a point of equilibrium, though this cycle is definitely coming to an end, the forest and it's inhabitants are all winding down, and you can almost see the colour draining from the land as you walk through it. That's fair enough, nature deserves a well earned rest, it's done well under challenging conditions. That's not to say there's not stuff still going on. It's second harvest after all, and a time to gather in nuts (the Cob and Hazel in our garden have been prolific this year) and the last of the fruits, as well as a time to collect seeds for the future. It'll soon be mushroom season too, fingers crossed, now that the much needed rains have arrived. It's a good point to take stock of our blessing and give thanks. I hope that Alban Elfed finds your basket brimming, with all the seeds you planted earlier in the year falling on fertile ground and growing to rude fruition. Equinox blessings y'all. 

Copious Cobs

It's not just the common Hazel out and about that's got a bumper crop developing, in our garden the Cobs (a variety of Hazel which produces much larger fruits, sometimes also known as 'Filberts') are better laden than we've ever seen then them. The same applies to them though as with the wild varieties, it's only at harvest we'll know if the shells are full. Last year we had a fantastic crop of good (commercial) sized nuts, and very tasty they were too. Fingers crossed for the years haul.

Nut clusters

Walking over The Tarrents again and along the hedgerows and in the coppiced woodlands the hazel boughs are sagging under the weight of this years developing nuts. Commonly the nuts hang singly, in pairs or sometimes threes, though this year clusters of five, six or more are more than commonplace. I don't remember a year of such fecundity, though the proof will only be known at harvest time. You can never really know what's inside the shell, frequently a good sized healthy looking shell produces nought to speak of, or even nought at all. Still, there could well be a bumper harvest to come.