Squirrelling away supplies for winter took on a whole new meaning for one couple in the United States, after they discovered an engine surrounded by walnuts and grass in their car.

Holly Persic was driving to a library in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, when she noticed the car smelled odd and didn’t seem to be running properly.

“My wife called me from Northland Library and said that her car smelt like it was burning, and was making a weird sound,” Chris Persic said .

Holly opened the hood to find an engine full of walnuts neatly packed in grass, probably stored there by squirrels over the weekend, when the vehicle had been parked in the open.

Chris spent almost an hour cleaning out “over 200 walnuts and grass from under the hood”, he continued in the post.

The couple seemed to take the incident in their stride.

“There’s definitely an angry squirrel wife right now wondering where all the nuts went”, Chris said.