Acorns
Walnuts
Strolling through the woods in early Autumn you can see all the trees with their nuts and seeds hoping for the seedlings to germinate and grow into saplings the following spring. It can take centuries for the Oaks to become established.
They have an important role in providing a portion of rich food for wildlife such as birds, mice, badgers, and squirrels, so many get munched before they can germinate. Squirrels especially like to collect nuts and store them ready for harsher weather.
Fun Facts:
A mast year is when the trees produce a bumper crop of nuts and seeds. Scientists believe this is to produce more seeds than wildlife can eat, increasing the seeds’ chances of survival.
Nuts are a simpler form of a seed they have a hard outer shell which doesn’t naturally open when it matures.
A nut can be a seed; however, a seed can never be a nut. Seeds can be known by names such as a kernel, a pip, a pit, or a stone depending on its source.
Did you know that peanuts are not by definition nuts as they grow under the ground in a pod like peas and lentils and they are in fact legumes? Other seeds we tend to think of as nuts are almonds, brazils, cashews, macadamias, pecans, pistachios, pine nuts and walnuts they can be known as tree nuts.
Sitka spruce. The flowers are pollinated by wind and the female flowers develop into cylindrical, pale green cones which ripen and turn brown in Autumn. The seeds within the cones are small and winged.
Scots Pine
The cones from the Scots Pine are abundant during Autumn when they can be collected ready to make decorations for Christmas, for wreaths, garlands, and sprayed gold to hang on your Christmas tree. They can also be used as a natural bird feed container for your garden by making a mixture of seeds, fruit, nuts, and suet and binding them together with a little melted solid fat such as lard. Place in all the crevices and leave to set. Delicious !!
Helicopter Seeds
Carried by the wind with their papery wings the primary types of trees with these seeds in the UK. The Ash, Sycamore, Field Maple, Elm, and Norway Maple. They have the nicknames of spinning jenny, whirligig, whirlybird, and wingnut. The Helicopter seeds travel on the wind in a swirling motion like a helicopter blade hence their name.
Horse Chestnut and Sweet Chestnut Tree
Conkers
Everyone loves to go hunting for Conkers to play in the Autumn. A playground game with a serious side. The World Conker Championships evolved in the village of Ashton in Northamptonshire when a group of fishermen decided to hold a competition as the weather was too bad to fish. This continued in Ashton for 45 years before moving to a larger venue in a neighbouring village. It continues to raise money for charity, being held on the 2nd Sunday in October.
Not to be confused with the Conker-producing Horse Chestnut the Sweet Chestnut tree produces nuts that are a tasty treat for Christmas roasted on the fire. Remember to score the top as they can explode. Loved by the Romans, these nuts hang in clusters on the tree. It takes 25 years for a tree to mature enough to produce the fruit.
Written by Lindsay Stuart.
