Going Nuts

[mag888]

Went for a work round some nearby woods today
not my usual haunt but i know theres load of hazel amongst the birch & pine
same week last year you could'nt move for hazelnuts i picked a couple of kilos in about 10minutes

but today there wasnt a single nut to be seen anywhere i dont think the squirels beat me to them cause there wasn't even any empty shell's on the floor
anyone have any ideas what might of happened to them

i did notice all the hazel trees had a bud at the base of each leaf stem could these be the nuts and they just haven't developed?:

spent about 3hours and scoured the whole woods and all the hazels were the same no sign of nuts but all had the buds.

think ill go back in a couple of weeks and have another look but at least i got a good haul of blackberries as a consolation.

 

[Karr]

Just a couple of possibles!
Dont think they will produce nuts this late in the year, could be wrong though.
It could be the trees are Biennial bearing. Some trees can produce masses of nut one year, then zero to a few the next. Never known a mass do it at the same time.

Also, the buds could either be the female buds, that haven't developed, or the start of the Male catkins. These usually appear in October.



Regards Sparrow.