14 November 2025

If you have been walking in woodland, you will have noticed a lot of acorns lying on the ground. There are so many of them that they form a cobbled path! This is evidence of what is called a mast year for oaks and beech trees.

These mast years only happen once every five to ten years. Because the oak tree requires a lot of energy to produce acorns, which are high in nutrients, it does not produce as many most of the time. These acorns are mostly eaten by wildlife leaving fewer seeds for future growth.

Because the oak conserves energy for the mast years, the oak produces so many acorns in the mast year that there are more acorns than the wildlife needs and so it ensures that new oak life will be generated. How this happens is a mystery.

One of the consequences of the mast year is that the sightings of the red squirrel have increased. They eat hazelnuts which also generate more seeds in these mast years. The red squirrel has been able to have two breeding seasons.

The grey squirrels have increased too. Where pine martens have been introduced, the reds have had an easier time. The pine marten tends to nest lower down in the tree. From here it is difficult to prey on the red squirrels which nest high up in the pine trees.

How do the various species of tree communicate with each other in such a way that they mast in the same year? Has it to do with the weather conditions? Or is there some built in communications network amongst the trees? This is another mystery known only to God, at least for the moment.