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What, No Acorns?\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Have you noticed the lack of acorns this year? Robert Reader got in touch as he had noticed they were few and far between combined with large amounts of the husks of conkers lying around. So, what are the squirrels up to?<\/p>\n Last year, 2020, was a ‘mast’ year for acorns. ‘Mast’ derives from the Old English ‘maest’ which simply means the nuts of forest trees which have accumulated on the ground. We tend to use mast to mean years when there are a lot of them and this applied last year all over Britain. This year, the reverse applies and whether you are in Glamorgan, Somerset or Yorkshire people are reporting few if any acorns. Interestingly the Knopper Gall which distorts growing acorns and can often be found scattered on the pavement underneath the School oaks, are not to be found. The reasons behind mast years are varied including the weather but also may be linked to ensuring the continuation of the oaks by producing a bumper crop, many of which are buried by squirrels, birds and rodents. These are then followed by lean years which keeps the populations of small animals under control.<\/p>\n So with a shortage of acorns this year for the squirrels to bury are they turning to conkers? Well, yes and no. Conkers contains a poison which squirrels can detect if they try to eat them but this will not prevent their hoarding instincts from kicking in. So wherever you find loads of conker shells but no conkers you can assume that the squirrels have been carrying off the conkers and burying them. The net result will be loads of Horse Chestnut saplings next year!. More recently Sweet Chestnuts have been falling and the squirrels are losing no time in gathering these up. Grange Park is a good spot to see them in action.<\/p>\n A few things to look out for at the moment. Every garden seems to be festooned with spider webs, most of which will be the Garden Spider which can be quite a chunky size. And the Harlequin Ladybird is everywhere. These come in different patterns but they are larger than our familiar 7-spot Ladybird. They also move into houses and can be found in any gaps around doors and windows where they can gain access and spend the winter. Also check out the flowering Ivy which is all over the place in Wenvoe. If you see what looks like a wasp but has a hairy back it is probably the Ivy Bee which only arrived in Britain in 2001 so has made a good job of spreading around the country.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What, No Acorns?\u00a0 Have you noticed the lack of acorns this year? Robert Reader got in touch as he had noticed they were few and far between combined with large amounts of the husks of conkers lying around. So, what are the squirrels up to? Last year, 2020, was a ‘mast’ year for acorns. ‘Mast’ derives from the Old English […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6cWjO-2Le","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":17434,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=17434","url_meta":{"origin":10616,"position":0},"title":"Bug Hotels in the School Wildlife Patch","author":"Alan Williams","date":"26th September 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Wenvoe Wildlife Group Bug Hotels in the School Wildlife Patch We are indebted to Mike and Glenys for raising \u00a31,256 for WWG through the Village Show. Our thanks also to all who attended the event, took part by entering, the organisers and all who contributed raffle prizes. The money will\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "New Items for October 2026"","block_context":{"text":"New Items for October 2026","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=439"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9069,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=9069","url_meta":{"origin":10616,"position":1},"title":"Mighty Oaks From Little Acorns Grow","author":"Alan Williams","date":"1st February 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Mighty Oaks From Little Acorns Grow 'Mighty oaks from little acorns grow' and we have many fine oaks in the Parish. The recent decision to remove two of the immature oaks on the Upper Orchid Field has prompted some questions on the best ways to promote and enhance biodiversity. So,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Wenvoe Wildlife Group"","block_context":{"text":"Wenvoe Wildlife Group","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=48"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Picture3a.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13438,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=13438","url_meta":{"origin":10616,"position":2},"title":"BIG TREES FROM LITTLE ACORNS GROW","author":"Alan Williams","date":"8th August 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"BIG TREES FROM LITTLE ACORNS GROW Can you recall what you were doing and where you were, when the dreadful tragedy of 9\/11 occurred? It shook the world, and anyone watching the event on TV could hardly believe their eyes when the second plane hit the second Tower. It was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Interest Articles"","block_context":{"text":"General Interest Articles","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=334"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9602,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=9602","url_meta":{"origin":10616,"position":3},"title":"Oak Apple Day","author":"Alan Williams","date":"6th May 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Saturday 29th May is Oak Apple Day so don't forget to celebrate our wonderful oak trees. Take the time to admire them, give them a hug, write a poem about them or paint or photograph them. If you have children, make sure they can identify an oak with its very\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Nature Notes"","block_context":{"text":"Nature Notes","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=49"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Oak-apple-stock-1-300x258.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":17396,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=17396","url_meta":{"origin":10616,"position":4},"title":"The Wenvoe Transmitting Station As It Is Officially Called","author":"Alan Williams","date":"24th September 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"ARTICLES of GENERAL INTEREST THE WENVOE MAST \u2013 OR THE WENVOE TRANSMITTING STATION AS IT IS OFFICIALLY CALLED For generations of people living in South Wales, the Wenvoe Transmitting Station has been far more than a broadcasting mast. Rising high above the countryside west of Cardiff, it has become a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "New Items for October 2026"","block_context":{"text":"New Items for October 2026","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=439"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Wenvoe-Mast-rotated.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9687,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=9687","url_meta":{"origin":10616,"position":5},"title":"Turn On, Tune In And Drop\u2026\u2026Everything !","author":"Alan Williams","date":"27th May 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"TURN ON, TUNE IN AND DROP\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026EVERYTHING ! The Wenvoe Mast is transmitting another Royal Event this June On 17th April, more than 13 million people in the UK watched live television coverage of the funeral of Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh. The BBC\u2019s coverage of the scaled-back military procession\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Interest Articles"","block_context":{"text":"General Interest Articles","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=334"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Picture3-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10616"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10616"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10616\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10617,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10616\/revisions\/10617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Picture2.jpg?resize=219%2C300\")
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