Fears over future of World Conker Championships due to climate change

Organisers of the World Conker Championships are concerned for the competition’s future, as the UK climate continues to face the uncertain effects of extreme weather.

Prolonged drought conditions and scorching heat have led to severe drops in crop yields this summer, and increasing numbers of fruit and vegetable growers report experiencing some of the “worst harvests in living memory”.

As a result, those familiar with the competition fear horse chestnut trees – the trees which supply conkers – are becoming increasingly unreliable.

"It’s all very odd," St John Burkett, one of the competition’s organisers, told The Independent. “With the dry summer and wet spring, we’ve been seeing a lot of conkers that have been very late to mature.”

The unusual weather patterns have disrupted the predictable seasonal rhythm that tournament officials have relied on for decades.

“The way we see it – the trees are confused,” Mr Burkett added. “It’s been all over the place these last few years.

“I’ve been part of the championships for 30 years, and I’ve never seen a year like this. Usually, we see conkers fall on 30 September – they’re ever so consistent.”

Founded in 1965 to raise money for charities supporting the visually impaired, the beloved annual event has raised more than £485,000 to date, and this year will be held in Northamptonshire on 11 October.

What began as a small gathering behind a pub has grown into a major international spectacle, drawing hundreds of competitors from across the globe to battle for the quintessentially British world title.

The game itself follows a set of strict rules overseen by official umpires, known as “King Conkers”.

During the competition, each player is given a freshly drilled conker attached to a 20-inch lace, where they then take turns striking their opponent's nut until one shatters.

To ensure fair play and prevent cheating “tricks” like baking, vinegar-soaking, or lacquering the nuts to make them harder, all conkers are supplied directly by the organisers on the day of the event.

Such measures are deemed more important than ever in recent years, after the competition was embroiled in scandal when a dummy conker made of steel was found in the pocket of its 2024 winner.

These strict requirements mean officials must forage around 3,000 to 4,000 pristine, uncracked conkers for the tournament each autumn.

This year, however, the disruption has forced organisers to get help to source enough tournament-grade conkers.

As five back-to-back heatwaves have dried out more than two-thirds of the country, more than 27 million people have faced restrictions on water use over the summer.

Additionally, with a record-breaking 1,017 wildfires recorded in England and Wales this year, the moisture-rich, well-drained soil needed for chestnut trees to grow has been hard to come by.

Fears of a conker shortage in 2025 saw a package of more than 300 chestnuts delivered by Windsor Castle to the organisers, after weather conditions caused the nuts to mature too early. “Last year we were saved by Windsor,” Mr Burkett explained. “This year, Kirby Hall saved us.”

Owned by the Earl of Winchilsea, Kirby Hall, an Elizabethan-era manor house in Northampton, has donated thousands of conkers to this year’s championships.

The current disruption is not without precedent, but increasingly extreme climate patterns threaten to make such supply crises more common.

“With this El Niño, and whether that’ll make it all much worse... I don’t know,” Mr Burkett admitted.

“The year of the droughts, the RAF flew in our conkers from Jersey,” he recalled, referencing the 1976 heatwave – one of the most severe dry spells in modern British history.

But turning to continental Europe for help is not a guaranteed backup option. “We didn’t bother approaching France for conkers this year because their heatwaves were far worse than ours,” he said.

Importing or harvesting early also presents logistical headaches due to the delicate nature of preserving horse chestnuts.

"Conkers are very difficult to store," Mr Burkett explained. “If you store them in water, they get quite soft. If you spread them out in the shade for too long, they get quite hard and the games go on forever.”

With the tournament date rapidly approaching, organisers remain at the mercy of the weather.

“What we really need is conkers to fall next week,” Mr Burkett said. “The best ones fall just a few days before the competition.”