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Thursday 5 September 2013

Ryburn Valley -Fruits of the morning 05-09-13

Michael and I had a walk up the valley and these were a few of the things we found!



Acorns with a species of gall. 


A pretty frame of fungi around an Autumn Crocus.


Autumn Crocus (Crocus nudiflorus). 

 Michael's photos above and mine of the Shield Bug below.

I think this may be a Red-Cross Shield Bug (Elasmostethus cruciatus) which I found at home later.


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3 comments:

  1. Philip9 September 2013 at 11:48

    Hi Allison,

    The acorn galls are Knopper galls and are home to a wasp species. Interestingly this wasp needs the Turkey Oak to complete its life cycle. Although the Turkey Oak was introduced in 1735 the Knopper gall wasp didn't arrive until the 1960's.
    Your picture shows the oak is a pedunculate Quercus robur and this Knopper gall seems only to grow on this and not on our local Sessile oak. The gall can make the whole acorn crop of a tree non viable.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Colin D9 September 2013 at 20:45

    Hello

    SB is Birch SB Elasmostethus interstinctus

    The closely related and similar Elasmostethus cruciatus is a non UK Species

    HTH

    ReplyDelete
  3. Steve Blacksmith10 September 2013 at 14:17

    Thanks for that fascinating bit of info, Philip.

    Also for yours, Colin.

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