I buy new season Kentish cobnuts and I would say the texture varies; the green ones are soft, the between ones in the green to golden stage a bit more crunchy, but still moist and even the fully ripe, dry ones are more moist than a hazelnut from the supermarket.
I have a lone cobnut tree on my plot, which appears to self-pollinate. I normally pick the nuts up some time after they drop off and they are still moist.
The cobnut farms dry the ripe nuts after they've been harvested to a certain percentage for storage purposes (but they're still moist when you buy them).
Did the wild bushes shed their nuts some time ago and they got dried out by the sun, maybe?
In essence - yes, they're normally slightly 'soft' (but more moist but crunchy) when I buy them direct from the farm.