Acorns Galore!

2002 is an even better year than most to collect acorns. It’s what’s called a ‘mast’ year, when most oaks throughout the region produce a large crop of seed. A single oak tree will produce anything up to 50,000 acorns. Mast years occur only every six to seven years, the crop being largely determined by weather conditions during the previous year. It gives an oak tree a vastly improved chance of selfpropagation because not even the squirrels can eat all the acorns in a mast year!

Jays are an oak tree’s best method of seed dispersal as these colourful ‘feathered foresters’ take and bury acorns for their winter food store. Those they forget about then have a good chance of survival and germination come the Spring.