Beech Nuts

A few days ago, these spiky shelled beech nuts were closed shut like little round balls.

Now look at how the shells have opened, like a flower, to reveal the perfect arrangement and alignment of the 2 meaty parts inside.

At the moment, the grey squirrels are having a parkour-blast attempting to harvest the nuts on elusive, swaying boughs. Perhaps I should be videoing them to capture a fall, which looks highly likely. They're providing a lot of amusement as I drink my morning coffee on the deck.