We are plagued with these pesky things. Next door have a walnut tree that towers over our property. The birds pick the nuts, land on our roof to try and open them and lose them. The nut falls down onto our conservatory roof from agreat height and makes a horrendous noise, it really make jump. The tree also sheds the nuts onto the patio making a terrible mess.
We have lived here seventeen years and have never suffered like this before.
It would have to be a very extensive net as this is an enormous tree. I reckon in about a year I will be asking them to do a bit of coppicing. They are okay as neighbours. They have a lot of very tall fir trees between the properties. They have cut these down considerably so not so much a problem now.
Weather conditions this year may have resulted in a particularly abundant crop - if this is the first time it has been a problem in 17 years it’s likely that it will be a while before it becomes a problem again.
Meantime, try to harvest as many as you can and make lots of date and walnut loaves to see you through the winter :-)
It's a bit late for that now Toorak. They are a bit black and slimy. Plus most of them have gone from the tree, just have the patio to clean up when the rain stops.
I'm not sure ladybirder. The tree is on spare ground away from their garden. They cannot see the ground as it is raised so maybe not aware of nut problem. Also most years they spend about 4 months in Spain over the winter.