Spangles
It’s forty years since I first saw and photographed spangle galls on an oak tree. I noted it down in my Nature Notebooks:
I identified them as the Common Spangle Gall, Neuroterus quercusbaccarum and the Cupped Spangle Gall, Neuroterus tricolor. I was frustrated that my 1950s Zenith camera didn’t have a macro facility so this cluster of leaves was as close as I could get.
They are formed by Oak trees as a reaction to an egg being laid on the underside of the leaf by a small insect called a cynipid wasp. There are 380 different species of gall wasp in Europe alone.
Here in Devon they cover the undersides of the oak leaves still, each with an egg or grub inside them:
And my phone has a macro function which would have been science fiction back in 1977:
More Galls
Spangle Galls This fallen oak leaf is covered in galls. They look like they're caused by Neuroterus quercusbaccarum, which has injected eggs… read more
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Cherries on an Oak There are Cherry Galls, Cynips quercusfolii, on this fallen Oak leaf. Inside each are tiny wasp larvae, protected by the Oak's… read more
A fortress on the stalk of a leaf It doesn't look like much. After all, it's just a bulge on a stalk of a leaf, scattered on the… read more
Have you seen my peduncle? English Oaks take 40 years to produce their first acorns and don't reach 'peak acorn' until they are 100 years… read more
Cherries growing on Oak trees There are Cherry Galls, Cynips quercusfolii, on the fallen Oak leaves here in Bridford Wood. They are the tree's defensive… read more
Robin’s Pincushions on Wild Roses The ability of life to survive in the harshest of climates is remarkable. We're walking at 1,500m above sea level… read more