lettucewoman
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amazing!!!!We were babysitting for friends yesterday...took the kids up to the little play area and field. and I took a bag in case there was anything to forage.....I was expecting maybe some blackberries and a few full but not fullly ripe nuts...
.........I have been collecting hazelnuts since I was tiny, started with my mum and then on my own...but I can honestly say in about 49 years of doing it I have NEVER seen trees so loaded with nuts! Instead of ones twos and threes there were clusters of four, five, and six fully ripe (and falling) nuts...it looked like more nuts than leaves! In just 10 minutes of foraging I had collected a carrierbag full of ripe nuts, and then....found a whole load of blackthorn bushes with LOADS of fully ripe sloes on!!
I have collected enough to start the slow gin and vodka for xmas already...I'm going to freeze them first.
Finally I found that they council have planted cob nut trees around the perimeter, only small but already with dozens of ripe nuts on, and then we came across an elderberry treee loaded with ripe berries!Going to try wine..... 
I didnt have as much time as I would have liked, but I intend to return as soon as possible
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gil
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There's obviously a shortage of squirrels
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lettucewoman
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yes seems to be there...its in the middle of a huge housing estate on the outskirts of southampton!we, on the other hand have lost most of ours o squirrels already  ...but seriously, i really have never seen so many nuts on trees....i was taught by my mum how to *look|* at a hazelnut tree to be able to see the nuts when it looks like there are none due to the leaves, but honestly...there were more nuts than leaves!
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digit
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I've noticed on our farm we've got loads of hazel nuts and the sloe bushes a hanging with berrys.
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marigold
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I picked a bag of hazelnuts on Friday - they turned out to be all shell and no nuts .
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Rob R
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I was nibbling my nuts while picking brambles the other day, I expect the squirrels will be after them soon though.
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Ian33568
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| Rob R wrote: | | I was nibbling my nuts while picking brambles the other day, I expect the squirrels will be after them soon though. |
Too much detail....... 
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tahir
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I hope we don't get a repeat of last years squirrel break in for me nuts.
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Treacodactyl
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On the one hand it there seems to be less squirrels around this year, on the other one of my hazel trees was stripped of it's nuts in just a few days by wood mice. 
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Rob R
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| Ian33568 wrote: | | Rob R wrote: | | I was nibbling my nuts while picking brambles the other day, I expect the squirrels will be after them soon though. |
Too much detail....... |
Nah, too much detail would have been mentioning my getting hooked up on a bramble bush...
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Ian33568
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Ooch! 
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BadgerFace
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We have a abundance of nuts and berries here too And after a few very lean years the Oaks are loaded with acorns, don't think I've ever seen so many. Just wondering if they store ok in paper/hessian sacks ? As I'm going to have to clear them from the horse fields, I would like to try and save them for the pigs. 
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tahir
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Probably hessian, I'd imagine they'll need to breathe or they'll go mouldy.
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Jamanda
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| BadgerFace wrote: | | We have a abundance of nuts and berries here too And after a few very lean years the Oaks are loaded with acorns, don't think I've ever seen so many. Just wondering if they store ok in paper/hessian sacks ? As I'm going to have to clear them from the horse fields, I would like to try and save them for the pigs. |
Can horses not eat acorns then?
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BadgerFace
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Acorns can cause poisoning and/or colic in horses. Some go mad for them once they get a taste ! Others ignore them - I pick them up just to be safe. Can also cause poisoning in sheep, fortunately my sheep don't seem interested in eating them. 
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Jamanda
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Well I never knew that.
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Green Rosie
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Neither did I. Adds to list:
Clear acorns from sheep field and store for pigs
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lettucewoman
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Down here in the forest the commoners turn out the pigs in the Autumn to eat the acorns so the ponies dont get them...it's great coming round the corner to see piggies in the road snuffling about!
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