One needs a robust faith to go out on such a day in order to inspect the thickets.

Yet if the beetle with the long beak exploits the acorns, as I think it does, the time presses if I am to catch it at its work.

The acorns, still green, have acquired their full growth.

In two or three weeks they will attain the chestnut brown of perfect maturity, quickly followed by their fall.
My seemingly futile pilgrimage ends in success.

On the evergreen oaks I surprise a Balaninus with the trunk half sunk in an acorn.