He threw up the conkers...

into the air in his great happiness. In the tree above him they disturbed a roosting crow, which erupted from the branches with an explosive bang of its wings, then rose up above him towards the sky, its harsh, ambiguous call coming back in long, grating waves towards the earth, to be heard by those still living.
Sebastian Faulks

The flowers of the Horse Chestnut Tree are beautiful. Hard to imagine in a few months this will be a spiky shell containing a conker.