Tag: nuts

October 11th – One of the odder fruits of autumn is beech mast. Beech nuts have a pleasant flavour if chewed, with a green, dark and astringent taste; they grow in a prickly, hard rough burr husk that falls from the tree after opening. Since a mature beech is of a considerable size, the mast litter under such a tree is often deep, and has a distinct crackle when you walk or ride over it.

There isn’t a hint of moisture in the husks, which are hard, and they put one in mind of something prehistoric, perhaps the scales of some long-extinct dinosaur.

This example, along with several others is growing along the Lichfield Road at Sandhills. They are lovely trees.

August 4th – By the canal in Brownhills, opposite the Watermead Eastate, there’s a little secret not many people seem to know about. It’s a hedge of hazel trees. I guess they were planted here 25 years ago when the refuse tip that had been on this site was reclaimed. Now mature, and tall, they are covered in dense, beautifully green leaves. I’d never remotely consider eating the nuts considering the previous use of the land below, but it’s moot anyway, as normally the squirrels strip these trees bare of fruit before it’s even ripe. 

Sadly, the squirrels will not be so fortunate this year, as in the whole length of the hedge, I spotted only two nuts. It must have been a bad season for these trees. 

May 20th – A small result. The bike racks at Birmingham New Street Station – relocated to a dark corner on the the opening of the new concourse – were formerly only bolted to the ground and could easily be disassembled by thieves to steal users steeds. I noticed this morning that the ordinary nuts securing the Sheffield frames had been replaced with shear nuts, which are nigh-on impossible to remove. For added security, they’ve been bonded on with thread lock adhesive. This makes them much more secure.

I hope Network Rail have learned something from the bad publicity here. It ain’t rocket science really, is it?