There is a lot going on in this picture. Once again, lacewing eggs are evident (the little white dots suspended above the hull). The leaves on this fruiting spur are drying up. The culprit here is "hull rot" which is caused by several fungi that thrive on the fleshy moist hull and create a toxin that kills the spur, and often the wood several inches back from the spur. A close look at the shell below the open hull shows a split in the shell that an ant can walk through to the meat, or a newly hatched NOW larvae could walk through to gain access to the meat. Nonpareil, the most popular almond, is notorious for having a poorly sealed shell. I think I see rust fungi forming on the underside of the dying leaves.