Kevin Prince has wide experience of farming and rural business in Hampshire, where he lives near Andover, and across southern England as a divisional partner of Brown & Co.
Both of my grandfathers were true Countrymen who both spent considerably more hours of their life outdoors than indoors.
As a child, I spent many hours with both of them and one of my greatest regrets in life is that I did not take more note of the encyclopaedic knowledge they both had of flora and fauna.
It is true that some of their country and weather folklore was superstition or myth, but equally so much of it was true, even if they did not totally understand the science or reasons behind it.
I was reminded of this early one morning in mid-August when, whilst looking up to admire a squirrel performing some impressive aerial gymnastics, I was hit square between the eyes by a falling acorn.
In most years, the chances of this happening at all, and especially in August, would be so phenomenally low that it would be hard to imagine how unlucky I had been.
But, this year, as the constant pinging sound of a hard object landing on the roof of my car parked under the large oak tree on our drive reminds me, it would actually have been quite a safe bet and I was pretty idiotic to spend that much time looking up under an oak tree.
The reason for the increased chance of being hit this summer is because this year is a Mast year for acorns and if you look beneath the canopy of any mature oak tree in the south of England, you are likely to see an almost continuous carpet of acorns.
Both my grandfathers were adamant that Mast years were a portent of a hard winter and were nature’s way of allowing animals to stock up on their fat and food stores for the winter.
This year’s dry weather has produced not only a Mast year but also a very early fall of acorns, with many already on the ground.
Whilst this might be good news for lots of wildlife, it is not necessarily great news for domesticated animals.
In the New Forest, the Mast year will be welcome for those who have rights of Pannage, and their pigs will enjoy the glut of acorns.
However, for cattle, sheep, and particularly horses, acorns and beech nuts can pose a serious poisoning risk.
Acorns and beech nuts are high in tannin, which can cause a host of problems in cattle, sheep and horses if consumed in large quantities.
Generally, most grazing animals will leave them alone, however, this year, with a lack of quality grass combined with a Mast year – making it harder for grazing livestock to avoid the acorns near oak trees – there is an increased risk.
Over the next couple of months, keepers of horses, sheep and cattle will also have to add to keeping an eye on the amount of acorns being consumed and for any signs of poisoning in their animals to their list of jobs.
The rest of us should, if my grandfathers were right, prepare ourselves for a hard winter and some serious snow. We will see.
