In spite of my best resolutions following a zero harvest last year, I
have again left it too late to gather much of my crop of hazelnuts.
There are some left, which is an improvement on last year, but lots of
empty husks and shells (if that's the right term).

I've been wondering what my main rivals are. We don't have squirrels as
far as I'm aware. However, googling has thrown up the fact that
pheasants love hazelnuts and I now ealise that I've been slow to catch
on to the fact that this probably accounts for the loud squawks which
have been coming from the boundary hedge in the last week or two.
Presumably birds in the crow family also like hazelnuts.

I was also wondering what makes the neat single holes in the side of
some of the shells and some more googling has established that this is
probably nut weevil. Where there is a hole there are normally other
insects inside - wood lice or small millipede-type insects - but I
presume they could well be opportunists.

Interestingly a website
(http://66.249.93.104/search?q=cache:...ct =clnk&cd=2) suggests that picking can start in August when nuts are green, (considered a delicacy by some) but that main picking is late September and into October. Perhaps they have just been early this year or maybe the strong winds have brought them down. My resolve is to start looking and shaking the trees in mid-Septmber next year.

Janet G

In article ,
Janet Galpin writes:
|
| I've been wondering what my main rivals are. We don't have squirrels as
| far as I'm aware. However, googling has thrown up the fact that
| pheasants love hazelnuts and I now ealise that I've been slow to catch
| on to the fact that this probably accounts for the loud squawks which
| have been coming from the boundary hedge in the last week or two.
| Presumably birds in the crow family also like hazelnuts.

I didn't know that a pheasant could deal with them, because hazelnuts
have a fairly tough shell. Jays like acorns, and I would guess them.

| I was also wondering what makes the neat single holes in the side of
| some of the shells and some more googling has established that this is
| probably nut weevil. Where there is a hole there are normally other
| insects inside - wood lice or small millipede-type insects - but I
| presume they could well be opportunists.

How small are the holes? Your latter guess seems likely.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Nick Maclaren wrote:
How small are the holes? Your latter guess seems likely.

My childhood revisited! The weevil drilles a hole and put it's egg in
there and the maggot eats the nut and leaves only powder. So many times
I've have been disappointed. I'll ask my uncle what he does - I
remember him spraying something and it perhaps could be bordeaux mix.

The message
from (Nick Maclaren) contains these words:


In article ,
Janet Galpin writes:
|
| I've been wondering what my main rivals are. We don't have squirrels as
| far as I'm aware. However, googling has thrown up the fact that
| pheasants love hazelnuts and I now ealise that I've been slow to catch
| on to the fact that this probably accounts for the loud squawks which
| have been coming from the boundary hedge in the last week or two.
| Presumably birds in the crow family also like hazelnuts.

I didn't know that a pheasant could deal with them, because hazelnuts
have a fairly tough shell. Jays like acorns, and I would guess them.

Spot on. Hearing the same quarrelsome squawking this afternoon, I was
just in time to see an altercation between a jay and a magpie. Only the
second time I've seen a jay in the garden so I was quite excited and
felt tmore cheerful about the loss of my hazelnuts.

| I was also wondering what makes the neat single holes in the side of
| some of the shells and some more googling has established that this is
| probably nut weevil. Where there is a hole there are normally other
| insects inside - wood lice or small millipede-type insects - but I
| presume they could well be opportunists.

How small are the holes? Your latter guess seems likely.

About 1 to 2 mm?


Janet

The message .com
from "La Puce" contains these words:


Nick Maclaren wrote:
How small are the holes? Your latter guess seems likely.

My childhood revisited! The weevil drilles a hole and put it's egg in
there and the maggot eats the nut and leaves only powder. So many times
I've have been disappointed. I'll ask my uncle what he does - I
remember him spraying something and it perhaps could be bordeaux mix.

Thanks very much for this confirmation.
I'm not going to be spraying my whole hedgerow though. I couldn't reach
and wouldn't anyway on principle. I'm happy to live with it. The loss to
birds is far more significant.


Janet G

"Janet Galpin" wrote in message
...
The message .com
from "La Puce" contains these words:


Nick Maclaren wrote:
How small are the holes? Your latter guess seems likely.

My childhood revisited! The weevil drilles a hole and put it's egg in
there and the maggot eats the nut and leaves only powder. So many times
I've have been disappointed. I'll ask my uncle what he does - I
remember him spraying something and it perhaps could be bordeaux mix.

Thanks very much for this confirmation.
I'm not going to be spraying my whole hedgerow though. I couldn't reach
and wouldn't anyway on principle. I'm happy to live with it. The loss to
birds is far more significant.


If you had said you had been 'losing' the nuts to grey squirrels, there
would have been some on this newsgroup encouraging you to kill some of them.
Good job it's birds.

In article ,
Janet Galpin writes:
|
| | I was also wondering what makes the neat single holes in the side of
| | some of the shells and some more googling has established that this is
| | probably nut weevil. Where there is a hole there are normally other
| | insects inside - wood lice or small millipede-type insects - but I
| | presume they could well be opportunists.
|
| How small are the holes? Your latter guess seems likely.
|
| About 1 to 2 mm?

The reason that I asked is that one of the small rodents (dormouse?)
makes neat, single, round holes - but they are much bigger.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

In article , Janet Galpin
writes
Spot on. Hearing the same quarrelsome squawking this afternoon, I was
just in time to see an altercation between a jay and a magpie. Only the
second time I've seen a jay in the garden so I was quite excited



We've got a family of five in our garden and to be honest I really don't
like them, they are bullies on the bird feeders and harass the smaller
birds. They also seem to go after the nests because in the spring you
got a lot of bird alarms and out of the bushes would fly one or other of
the Jay family.
Still whilst they are squabbling with the starlings and pigeons they
leave the others alone


--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

The message
from Janet Tweedy contains these words:

In article , Janet Galpin
writes
Spot on. Hearing the same quarrelsome squawking this afternoon, I was
just in time to see an altercation between a jay and a magpie. Only the
second time I've seen a jay in the garden so I was quite excited



We've got a family of five in our garden and to be honest I really don't
like them, they are bullies on the bird feeders and harass the smaller
birds. They also seem to go after the nests because in the spring you
got a lot of bird alarms and out of the bushes would fly one or other of
the Jay family.
Still whilst they are squabbling with the starlings and pigeons they
leave the others alone


Partly novelty value in my case I guess. You rarely see them round here,
perhaps because there's not much tree cover. My own tree cover is
becoming significant so I like to think I'm attracting birds which
weren't around a while ago. I tend to view magpies in much the same way
as you view jays.

An interesting thing about the raiding of the hazelnuts which I forgot
to mention before is that I often pickup a nut believing it to be OK,
only to find that if you squeeze it there is a neat crack along the
midway mark and the contents have disappeared. I'm wondering how a jay,
say, could so neatly and only partially crack the nut open, and
completely and cleanly remove the contents.

Janet G

Nick Maclaren writes

In article ,
Janet Galpin writes:
|
| | I was also wondering what makes the neat single holes in the side of
| | some of the shells and some more googling has established that this is
| | probably nut weevil. Where there is a hole there are normally other
| | insects inside - wood lice or small millipede-type insects - but I
| | presume they could well be opportunists.
|
| How small are the holes? Your latter guess seems likely.
|
| About 1 to 2 mm?

The reason that I asked is that one of the small rodents (dormouse?)
makes neat, single, round holes - but they are much bigger.

I think it's wood mice and voles (among others)

You can distinguish between them because one holds it tilted away and
gnaws away from the outside, and the other tilts it towards him ad gnaws
from the inside, so in one case you get tooth scratches on the outside,
in the other case you don.t.

But, as Nick says, much bigger holes.
--
Kay

In article , Janet Galpin
writes


An interesting thing about the raiding of the hazelnuts which I forgot
to mention before is that I often pickup a nut believing it to be OK,
only to find that if you squeeze it there is a neat crack along the
midway mark and the contents have disappeared. I'm wondering how a jay,
say, could so neatly and only partially crack the nut open, and
completely and cleanly remove the contents.

Janet G


I dug up some potatoes the other day and found two walnuts, still in
shells, albeit a bit under ripe. Funny thing ... there's no sign of a
walnut tree in the neighbouring gardens.

I assume squirrels buried them?

janet
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

On 25/9/06 23:31, in article , "Janet Tweedy"
wrote:

In article , Janet Galpin
writes


An interesting thing about the raiding of the hazelnuts which I forgot
to mention before is that I often pickup a nut believing it to be OK,
only to find that if you squeeze it there is a neat crack along the
midway mark and the contents have disappeared. I'm wondering how a jay,
say, could so neatly and only partially crack the nut open, and
completely and cleanly remove the contents.

Janet G


I dug up some potatoes the other day and found two walnuts, still in
shells, albeit a bit under ripe. Funny thing ... there's no sign of a
walnut tree in the neighbouring gardens.

I assume squirrels buried them?

I think so, Janet. We get them burying conkers in our lawn and there are
none very close by. It drives the dogs mad because they dig like crazy and
get shouted at by us! We don't know if they're after the conkers or whether
they think they're going to find the squirrels!

--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/

In article ,
Janet Tweedy writes:
|
| I dug up some potatoes the other day and found two walnuts, still in
| shells, albeit a bit under ripe. Funny thing ... there's no sign of a
| walnut tree in the neighbouring gardens.
|
| I assume squirrels buried them?

Almost certainly. Some other rodents do, too, but squirrels are the
main culprits.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.