I slightly covet my neighbour’s Walnut tree but I’m not sure how good the walnuts are. What I do know is that the local Jackdaws love them, as does what appears to be a single Rook.
The Jackdaws seem to arrive just after 9am every morning (why then?) and take away individual walnuts in their beaks. They fly quite a long way away, out of sight for me, before tackling them. Occasionally walnuts are dropped on our conservatory roof, whether by accident or design I cannot tell as the first I know is a sharp crack! when they hit the roof. Likewise, the occasional crushed walnut on the road might be clever corvids dropping them to break them or might be dropped walnuts which then become road traffic casualties.
I like walnuts. I particularly like walnuts with pears and stilton. There’s a pear tree a couple of doors down the road too – lots of pears on it. No Jackdaws. these corvids aren’t as clever as some people say.
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Home-grown walnuts are usually very good.. we have a tree, and this year actually got chance to harvest some (more than the squirrels could manage). Had some the other day with pears and membrillo (no cheese right now – not allowed), and also some with beetroot and apple in a hot salad. A bumper pear crop, too.. getting a bit bored of pear! Rarely see birds raiding pears on the tree.. wasps , yes……
Such are the refined tastes of urban man and Jackdaws. Our rural birds leave the nut dispersal strictly to the squirrels who rufal power has provided with areal superhighways in the form of armoured cables which mean the squirrels can rapidly transit the neighbourhood. Hence we have an annual crop of walnut seedlings.
What is puzzling is the crop of Holme oak seedlings which appear. I don’t know of one for miles around
Obviously this is all in preparation for rewilding in appropriate species adapted for the forthcoming climate
One year jackdaws stole clumps of hazelnuts from my tree and left them on the road for cars to open for them. They haven’t done it since though so I don’t know if it was too much effort for little reward. A squirrel has eaten the lot this year though and is now stealing apples from my trees.
Just yesterday I watched a Hooded Crow drop a walnut onto a pathway to break it, whereupon three jackdaws, two magpies and a rook appeared immediately from no-where to try to steal the nut but the crow saw them off.
Family are not always friendly.
I suspect Scotland is a bit chilly for walnuts to develop fully which is a tremendous shame. I used to walk past gardens in Hungary and feel very jealous they could grow their own grapes. We really should have far more fruit and nut trees planted in urban areas, there was a glorious street I once walked down in Hungary which not only had the occasional stand pipe so you could get a drink of non bottled water, but then take your pick from the various fruit trees planted next to the road. I had some mulberries which were absolutely delicious, but stained my hands dark purple for days afterwards. For that reason and that they don’t keep/travel well means you can’t really buy them in the shops. Re nuts a more convenient form of ‘harvesting’ for some of us is to hit it just right after Xmas to get the mesh bags of hazelnuts, walnuts, pecans, Brazils from the supermarkets when they’ve been knocked down from three quid to fifty pence each…. the ‘Scottish method’ perhaps?