Lmst

Well. Time flies.. Anyway. Over a year later the #oak #galls dried nicely so the little Hobbit and I started the #ink making process.

First the ingredients. We're using a simple recipe and I base it on using 10 grams of galls.

1 - 4 grams of Iron(II) sulfate
2 - 4 grams of Gum arabic
3 - 30ml of water (from our well, boiled, no chemicals)
4 - 10grams of oak gall

#FunWithBalls #InkMaking

The ingredients as described in the post

Harmandiola sp. Gall on European Aspen (Populus tremula)

#Gall #Populus #ArtWithOpenSource #Darktable #Aspen #CCBYSA #Flies #Diptera #Galls #Plant #Plants #Nature #NaturePhotography #Photo #Photography

A photo of a small round red gall on an aspen leaf.

Ripe and ready to eat :)

#gall #galls

Two galls on the underside of an oak leaf, one large yellow-green, the other much smaller, shrivelled, dark-orange.

Here are the galls of the Cynips quercusfolii, better known as Cherry gall wasp (in Dutch: Eikengalwesp). The small cup-shaped galls are from the Neuroterus albipes, also known as the Snooth spangle gall wasp (in Dutch: Plaatjesgalwesp)

The galls contain the female larvae. Mostly to be found underneath oak leaves.

#nature #insects #galls #oak #natuur #insekten #eik

These colorful lesions were originally thought to be just fungal infections (Botryosphaeria dothidea) but were eventually found to harbor midge larvae (Asteromyia carbonifera) that farm the fungi for food and use the hardened hyphae to prevent (sometimes) parasitic wasps from ovipositing into the gall. In turn, emerging female flies dutifully transmit spores to new plants each generation. #goldenrod #fly #diptera #fungus #fungi #mutualism #gall #galls #solidago #cecidomyiidae #insects #entomology

Pair of white-rimmed purple discs growing inside a golden-rod leaf.

Here are the stats for Gall Week 2025: 13,300 observations, 1004 species, and 886 participants. These numbers will climb as people upload their pics and manually add them to the project. #GallWeek2025 #gall #galls #inaturalist #insects #mites #nature https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/gall-week-september-2025

Screen shot of a web page on iNaturalist for the Gall Week September 2025 project, featuring a large photograph of a twig bearing contorted, antler-like galls. Below are listings of the statistics, icons of users who had the most observations and greatest number of observed species. Also a listing of which species was most observed overall (red cone gall wasp).

One thing you learn very quickly when photographing oak galls is that bald-faced hornets are huge gall fans, too. #GallWeek2025 #gall #galls #cynipidae #oaks #nectar #wasps #insects #biology #hymentopera #hornets

Black and white hornet on an oak leaf next to three spherical galls.

14/09/2025 - A sunny day out. Slow stroll looking at trees and bugs. Aberdeenshire was looking lovely today in the September sunshine. Two new things I've not come across before, both on the same oak tree, oak artichoke galls and a little larch ladybird.

#Galls #Insects #Ladybirds

View down a sunny treelined track we were walking down. Big Douglas fir on the right.

Oak artichoke gall on the branch of an oak tree. It's a gall that looks like a little artichoke!

Light brown coloured larch ladybird on an oak leaf.

Found some banded bullet galls (Kokkocynips imbricariae) yesterday. I also found a dollar near the tree. It was a good day. Media, PA, USA. #GallWeek2025 #gall #galls #wasps #cynipidae #insects #entomology #oaks #quercus

Several small, spherical, deep ruby galls studded with hundreds of yellow warts. Attached to a tree stem.

@Hellybootwader Not seen any little donuts yet but I’ll keep looking. #Galls

Underneath an oak tree looking up at a handful of acorns and a couple of galls close by. The brown galls are small round shapes dwarfed by the green acorns with their tee cosy like hats.

A white not my hand is turning over an oak leaf to reveal five yellow and black caterpillars. A couple of small brown objects are attached to another leaf stem close by.

Excellent podcast on galls featuring Adam Kranz. #GallWeek2025 #gall #galls #insects #mites #biology https://naturesarchive.com/2023/04/10/spring-galls/

I don't wear earrings but it seems like there should be more shops selling ones that look like oak galls. Or *are* oak galls. #earrings #art #jewelry #cynipidae #galls #insects

If you'd like to learn more about the cherry gall azure here's the 2005 paper by Pavulaan and Wright that describes it. #lepidoptera #galls #prunus #butterflies #lycaenidae #entomology #insects https://leplog.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/pavulaan-wright-2005-c-serotina.pdf

If you have a black cherry loaded with spindle-shaped leaf galls, keep your eyes peeled for the omnivorous caterpillar that feeds on them, the cherry gall azure (Celastrina serotina). #lepidoptera #galls #prunus #butterflies #lycaenidae #entomology #insects https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/82888035

Black cherry leaf gall (Eriophyes cerasicrumena) that has split open and released the vermiform mites that have spent the summer inside. #GallWeek2025 #gall #galls #mites #cherry #prunus #biology #eriophyidae #macrophotography

Tiny, black, spindle-like gall that has ruptured to reveal a course interior. Still attached to a leaf via a thin green stalk.

These oak button galls (Neuroterus umbilicatus) give a nice sense of how small cynipid wasps are. I've seen photographs that are so loaded them that you can barely see the leaf surface. #GallWeek2025 #gall #galls #cynipidae #oaks #quercus #entomology #nature #wasps

Underside of an oak leaf covered with dozens of brown, hairy, donut-shaped galls.

Jewel oak gall (Acraspis quercushirta), living up to its name. Little Crum Creek Park, Swarthmore, PA, USA. #GallWeek2025 #gall #galls #cynipidae #oaks #quercus #entomology #nature #wasp

Spherical, orange-and-yellow gall with dozens of fleshy cells that look like a fancy raspberry. Attached to a green oak leaf along a yellow-colored vein.

Yesterday's fun gall find was Phylloteras sigma (Cynipidae), a rarely-photographed beauty with no common name. iNaturalist observations are mainly in PA, DE, MD, VA, and DC but BugGuide lists NY, too. Reported on both Quercus alba and Q. muehlenbergii. Little Crum Creek Park, Swarthmore, PA. #GallWeek2025 #gall #galls #cynipidae #oaks #quercus #entomology #nature #gallformers

Lobe of an oak leaf with five galls that look like inflatable kayaks, one of which is a mottled red with a yellow interior. The other four are smaller, almost black, and are probably dead.

Galls! galls! galls!
I am embracing gall week over on iNaturalist and spending time going on very slow walks looking at every potential gall host.
Oaks are a popular host - previous gall weeks meant I learned about some of the galls on Oak.
Some of the many and various galls found today shown here.
More info and names (as far as I know them) in the alt-text
*edit typos - spangle galls
#galls #GallWeek25

A close cropped photo of the end of an oak branch. At least three different galls are visible. The green ball is an oak marble gall (I think) the brown rosette in the centre is an oak artichoke gall and the small discs on the back of a leaf on the right are silk-button spangle galls (brilliant name)

Two knopper galls, one is obviously growing out of an acorn, the other is just a rough pointy mass of plant material.
There is a thin branch across the picture, and out of focus oak leaves behind.

Close up of the silk-button spangle galls. So shiny! Like little donuts on the back of the oak leaf.
You can see the hand holding the leaf to turn it to take the photo

A cluster of three Cola nut galls on an oak twig. They look like brown wooden balls. More oak leaves make up the rest of the picture

took the fancy camera to high park this morning!

i was mostly looking for galls for #GallWeek but i also saw plenty of sand wasps enjoying the sun, and a coyote! i was walking away from it but it crossed the street to avoid me anyway and a car that was going too fast had to stop for it 🙄

(there are Plans to gradually #BanCars in High Park, people are big mad)

#galls #GallWeek2025 #bugstodon #insects #wasps #coyote #coyotes #Hymenoptera #Crabronidae #Bembicini

#Galls

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