Animals.........
| Nuts such as Hazel nuts (picture at right) and acorns are also
distributed by animals and birds. Jays are conspicuous in the Autumn as they collect
acorns to tide them over the lean Winter. They may be responsible for the collection
of several thousand acorns per bird. Not all of the acorns will be eaten, leaving some to
germinate and produce new trees. Squirrels are famous for collecting nuts, not all of which will be eaten. Some will be forgotton and left to germinate later. |
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| Nuthatches are woodland birds which collect beech-mast, acorns and hazelnuts. They will carry the nuts to a favoured crevice in a branch (picture on right) where they wedge the nuts and hack them open. Again some nuts which are collected are dropped and not eaten. If conditions are right they will germinate. |
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