Get ya Galls out for the boys

[SJH]

Another showing the inside.

 

 

and all the Aphids.

[Graham]

Walnut leaf blister mite - Eriophyes erineus I think

 

 

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

cracking shots graham,

 

judging by them walnuts its a good year for fruit all round, fungi, plums apples its all going bananas out there this autumn!

[Graham]

Best year for fruit I can remember for a long time.

[David Humphries]

Not technically a gall.

But a rust.

 

Pear Rust

 

Caused by the fungi - Gymnosporangium sabinae

 

Has gall like protrusions under the leaf.

 

Fruit can be affected, and can also lead to branch canker.

 

.

 

 

 

Couple of weeks on.

This set shows the spore fruit bodies, emerging from the galls on the underside of the leaves.

 

 

.

[David Humphries]

Bit of an interesting aside around the use of oak galls..............

 

 

have been contacted by a lady who is researching early use of ink.

 

Apparantly the Ink used to sign the Magna Carta, was from a solution made from Oak galls - called 'Iron gall Ink'

 

She's asked me to gather up a supply of old galls so she can carry out the process (which involves adding ferrous sulfate to the tannic acid found inside the galls.)

 

This produced a medium that could not be washed off & was difficult to erase, which was handy for such an important and fundamental document as the 'Carta'

 

Not sure these are in good enough condition, but will be interesting to hear how she gets on.

 

 

.

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

what a random thing, always something different from you isn't there, wicked little piece of info.

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

If this doesnt inspire you to look at the galls a little closer nothing will

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzXccvoJThI&feature=player_embedded]YouTube - Oak tree and wasp eggs - Life in the Undergrowth - BBC Attenborough[/ame]

[janey]

If this doesnt inspire you to look at the galls a little closer nothing will

 

 

Fascinating . Amazing photography and narrated by one of my all time heros. Great lil' find

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Fascinating . Amazing photography and narrated by one of my all time heros. Great lil' find

 

I have followed that man since i could walk, my hero too and probably the biggest influence on me as a child.