There is a natural phenomenon called June drop but this seems a little late. The drop in hormones means fruit drop.

Perhaps not enough water during the hot spells so the fruit have aborted. Has it been windy near you?

As SBG says, June drop plus immature fruits

How old is the tree, has it cropped well in previous years?

The tree is 3-4 years old. At least, we’ve had it that long. For the last two years the fruit has ALL dropped off but this year it looked a lot healthier. I knew about the June drop but didn’t expect to lose so many. And, yes, it has been very windy with torrential showers. I think I have about 6 apples left on the tree - for now.

We got rid of James Greave apple tree as we never got any fruit from it in the 6 or 7 years we had it. Sorry.

Is there a companion pollinator apple nearby?

I know JG is supposed to be self fertile but every little helps

Grandad, we did have a dwarf Cox a few feet away but that did even more badly, never had any fruit at all except for some tiny misshapen marbles. I heard, too late, that Cox is difficult. Had we known we might have gone with another pollinator.

However, I’m going to blame the wind and heavy rain and hoping that I can have at least one apple from it.

Thank you all for your comments.

As Grandad says James Grieve is supposed to self-fertile but would do better with a second pollinator. But Cox is a poor pollinator as it's a triploid needing two other varieties that flower at a similar time and is not a good cropper in many parts of the UK. I, personally get rid of the Cox and go for something like Fiesta which would give a similar apple to Cox but more reliable.

I think your apple tree is fine. It's not mature enough to bear fruit, but it's trying. As mentioned, 6-7 years is the norm. I agree about getting a companion for cross pollination. You'll get a better yield. Many growers here use crab apples for this.

Thank you all for your responses. Jimmy, I dug up and gave away the Cox last year. It’s reportedly doing well. Now, I simply don’t have any room for another plant, let alone a small tree. My very small garden is crammed with plants and getting overgrown. So much so that I’ve decided I must be brutal and remove some of them. The strange thing is that indoors I absolutely hate clutter and am constantly tidying but my garden is chock full of lovely flowers. Come the autumn changes will have to be made, if only to re-site Face. I shall leave James Grieve to mature.

Thanks again.