A photograph would be very useful...

Acorns come out of their cups..... perhaps they're acorns?

I was going to say squirrels are busy now with their acorn stores in prep for the winter, perhaps this is what they are?

Wouldn't they still be green rather than brown though, if they were acorns?

Hazel nuts?

I would guess Earth Balls, but don't know without more information.

Earth balls? What on earth are they?

Ok so i looked on google at earth balls and thats not them, i am going to try and put a photo on now, how can i tell if they are hazelnuts?

Go to google,click on images on the top line and type hazel nuts in the question box.

There are 494000 images there!

:)

I collected acorns from my w/end at Cromer two weeks ago, most were still green but got a dozen or so ripe brown one's.

They dont taste like hazelnuts to me ha ha, how annoying

You'd better google hazelnut for a picture - have you never eaten them? They come in nut-in-shell mixes at Christmas, they're the small, brown ones, sometimes called cobnuts or filberts

Im sorry for the poor quality of the photo.

I have looked at the pictures and they do look very very similar, they just dont taste like hazelnuts. Would be great if they were though.

They sure do look like hazelnuts

Yeah they do, especially after i smashed one with a hammer. I wish i could know for sure.

They look exactly like the hazel nuts in my garden

I suppose only the "perfect" ones make it to the supermarket and thats why they are all different. Is there any way of knowing for sure? Next time i am at my mothers i will get a photo of the tree and the leaves and maybe that will help.

See my photo of some in my garden on page 1 of my photos on GoY ( 3 in second line down )

yes i think that they are the same thing, i will try and get more photos as soon as i can. How exciting. Thanks all for your help. x

Probably filbert nuts, but small ones. Best flavour of so many of our 'wild' foods. Phil J

I didnt see any of those spiky cases that would go with sweet chestnuts, but i think i may have seen the open star type things that would go with them being hazelnuts. I will have a good look next time. Looks like everyone is getting a pretty bag of hazelnuts for xmas lol.

Seeds of something like a peony

Hazelnuts. Small and immature so taste harsh.
Earth Balls are fungie and look like very small puff balls with a knobly skin. They tend to grow in dry soils and are not edible. Look nothing like the picture..

the wild hazle nuts are never as big as shop baught ones.

they look like beech nuts and they have an open 4point star seed case.

Ah, well if they're Beech nuts, that'll be why they don't taste good...

Except to pigs who love them

oink oink lol .

Pretty sure they are hazel nuts i have hundreds in the garden the squirrels bury them and they germinate the the following spring. Pests

its a hard life for a squirrel