Our old walnut tree is poised on the edge of the millstream, threatening at any moment to fall, or jump, in. The result is that most of the walnuts fall into the millstream and whirl happily away downstream to become fishfood (except last year when neither we nor the fish got any at all, due to an ill-timed frost that hit the flowers for six). This year Tim was determined to put netting or something under the tree to catch the nuts before they hit the water. This was rapidly named "the nappy". He had a plan, involving
bâches (tarps), string and bits of wood as usual, now all he needed was a chap as daft as he is to put the plan into action - and the walnut fruits were beginning to crack.
Enter our friend Barry B., former bike and dragster racer, on his return with Barbara from the UK to Spain where they now live, in a not-exactly-concours-condition Ami 6 estate.Was he up for it? He was! I couldn't bear to watch, because it's the best part of a two metre drop to the millstream from the base of the walnut, so there are no photos of the action. However, they triumphed (appropriately enough, though nortoned would have been better). Here is the result.
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| Walnut tree in a nappy |
The nuts collect at the base of the tree, and are scooped up using a specially designed tool (an 8-foot bamboo cane, a wire coat hanger and a bit of bird netting that Tim ran over with the drive-on). That and the rainwater release jabber are propped against the rowan (probably) tree on the right.
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| This afternoon there were four nuts waiting to be collected |
I'm not convinced how this will behave in a high wind. I have visions of having to fish it out of the river. It was windy a couple of nights ago, and one of the wooden uprights (tomato stake or
tuteur) broke, but Tim mended it and all is well till the next windy day. It won't catch all the nuts, because it isn't wide enough for that, but anything bigger would be increasingly difficult to control.
Fortunately, there are plenty of nuts to come.
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| Just a sample of the nuts getting ready to fall |
4 comments:
So far the nuts that have fallen from my trees have been rotten. I'm assuming that the ones still on the trees that look like they have weeks to go yet will be fine.
It wasn't a gross mistake making the "nappy" either....
we've now collected 144 nuts without holes.
The ones with holes are interesting, tho...
something has bashed its way in...
probably woodpecker or jay... and then something much smaller has rounded some out with a file....
no teethmarks....
and fished in with tiny hands to remove the meat.
Yes, we've obviously got elves!!
Or, more probably, Lerots or possibly dormice... both of which leave no clear toothmarks, unlike the voles and mice.
The ones I've sampled so far have been OK, though one had a grub in it.
We've found quite a few empty ones.
Patent pending?
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