Had to crack

We have not harvested any ripe hazel nuts this year. I'm not really sure what is happening. There are nuts on the tree; they have been ravaged, before ripening, by squirrels. The squirrels chew through the stems, throw nuts to the ground, collect some to eat, some to store and leave some where they fall. We have picked up a few, but they are immature or empty. I have tried shaking the tree but, if there have been ripe ones, the squirrels have taken them all. This is unusual, normally we share

Luckily, we still have some carry-over from last year, and this afternoon I shelled some. In the middle of the job, this chap appeared, jaunty as you like and surprisingly fast moving - not an easy subject. Its head bobs up and down as it trundles along, and I was determined to get it head-in-air. I assumed it is a nut weevil, but thought it might just look like a generic larva, so confirmation could be difficult. Not a bit of it: my app was immediate and unequivocal, nut weevil it is

But this is confusing. Weevils lay their eggs in nuts in July and August. Development of the larva takes a month, after which it eats its way out of the shell and falls to the ground before metamorphosing to its adult form. Any weevils in these nuts should have gone a year ago. I guess we must have put one or two of the sample new nuts with the old ones, and one new nut had a weevil it it. I put it on the lawn. If it has escaped the birds, it should be well dug in by now. From its point of view, all's well that ends well