Mast

 

Where tall mature beeches grow the woodland floor is covered in mast; it's been a bumper year, and although the beechnuts are small and fiddly to process, they're a reasonably good size. The small nut/seed is edible and have been traditionally used by human communities either by the people themselves or to feed animals; beware though too many can cause stomach upsets. They can also be used to produce oil still frequently used in parts of Europe; I crushed a couple between my fingers, they were good and oily and left my thumb and forefinger feeling glassy smooth. A tasty treat for the pigs at pannage if they sweep this way.

Birch seed casings

 

All across the Common this morning, the gossamer threads of spiders toil were festooned with Silver Birch (Betula pendula) seed casings, the majority of the papery winged seeds having been transported elsewhere on the winds. A mature Silver Birch, and many of those over the Common are mature, can produce up to one million seeds; certainly like hedging their reproductive bets.

Willow snow

The conditions have been perfect for wind dispersal, sunny and warm with a very gentle breeze, and for a few days now the seeds of the Common's numerous Willows (Salix) have filled the air. Willow's produce an inordinate amount of small fluffy seeds only a couple of millimetres long, they're so prodigious that the seeds can fill the air for days and once grounded they gather like drifts of fluffy snow on the sides of the Common's narrow paths. A lovely seasonal happening.

Curious

Noticed the first Beech Mast of the season, well, the cases of anyway, good size they are too.  Initially I thought they were curiously early, although on reflection, we are nearly in June. Still though.