This is seed time for the UK’s deciduous trees. Conkers, beech nuts, hazelnuts acorns and even pine cones are all types of tree seed. Just like fruits such as apples, berries and pears some of them are very tasty to animals. Squirrels absolutely love hazelnuts so if you manage to find some that the squirrels haven’t already got their paws on you’re quite lucky. Other animals and birds eat tree seeds too. Jays (like the one in the picture) behave in a similar way to squirrels, they collect seeds and nuts and bury some of them so that they have their own little store of food to eat during the winter months when there isn’t much else around to eat. Once a tree seed has been eaten or it’s protective shell has been broken it’s not going to turn into a new tree. However every year lots of little stashes of tree nuts that have been buried by squirrels, jays and other animals get forgotten about. It’s almost as if the animals have been doing a bit of gardening, the warm, moist dark conditions under the soil in springtime are perfect for the seeds to germinate and sprout to become tree saplings.There are almost always more tree seeds than the animals need to eat or store so some are left on the ground in the rotting piles of leaves below the trees themselves. Passing animals and people can walk over these, pushing the seed further into the ground beneath it’s very own compost made from the leaves that have fallen from the trees. So next time you’re out on a walk just remember you could be helping to plant the trees of the future without even realising it.