This weekend we were in Norfolk and discovered something spectacularly exciting. Whilst on a walk through the forest we were looking at the ident qualities of the Beech tree when we discover it had a secret.
Beech trees are really simple to ident as they have very slender straight buds which always spread at 60 degrees to the fine zig-zag shoot. They have glorios copper coloured beech leaves in Autumn time and the fruit is beechnuts which are held in a prickly four lobed casing.
It was in these empty shell of the nuts that we found the tree's secret. We spied a ladybird hanging on top of the outside of one of the shells
but on closer inspection we discovered that every single beechnut casing hanging on the tree housed a cluster of the gorgeous little red garden friends. There they were huddled together, waiting for the world to warm up and Spring to arrive.
Such a special treat!
See if you can find a Beech tree and spot some ladybirds nestled in the nuts!
