Tag: walnut

August 26th – The day was better, I guess, by virtue of being dry, but when I set out for a tentative ride mid-afternoon it was cold, and a harsh wind blew. It wasn’t a bad October day, I thought.

I’m taking it easy. My foot isn’t completely better, and I thought I’d see how far I could push it before embarking on longer rides again. I looped up to Chasewater, then down to Wall, through Chesterfield and Hilton, back to Lower Stonnall, then home. Apart from a bit of toe-burn, not too bad.

What did impress was the fruits I saw. A terrific year for large, plump conkers; the tree at Edial between Burntwood and Pipe Hill is laden, and although suffering leaf miner damage, has a huge crop this year. In a few weeks standing at that bus stop could be hazardous.

At Wall, the walnut tree has a crop too. After finding it last year, I didn’t expect it to fruit this year too, but it has, with the lime-like ripening walnuts hanging from the boughs. I picked up a few windfalls, which were firm and large. When ripe, the green husks will split to reveal the more familiar brown nut inside. That’s if any survive the squirrels.

The Walnut tree also seems to have some kind of leaf miner activity. There are ‘blisters’ on some of the otherwise healthy, waxy leaves. I wonder what the bug is?

September 20th – While taking tea in the morning with my friend, our conversation turned to this journal and the nature of repeat observation, and how you can pass the same place time after time and still spot something new. Happenstance struck in Wall village later in the day, as I stopped to fiddle with my bike in a spot I’d paused hundreds of times before. I have been crossing this point since I was 11 or 12, yet never once have I noticed the walnut tree thriving here. The boughs are loaded with fruit, still maturing in green husks. At first, they looked like limes, and I dismissed that as an impossibility. I thought maybe almonds, then found the remnants of last year’s crop in the grass. 

This is the first walnut tree I’ve ever come across. I have seen this one many, many times, but never registered what it was. It seems in rude health, apart from some kind of parasitic attack in some of the leaves which reminded me of oak Knopper galls.

Now, where’s my recipe for pickled walnuts?