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~ a celebration of nature

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Tag Archives: galls on Poplar

K is for Knopper

16 Saturday Dec 2023

Posted by sconzani in insects, plants, trees

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Tags

British galls, bug galls, galls, galls on Ash, galls on Hazel, galls on oak trees, galls on Poplar, galls on willow, galls on Yew, Knopper gall, midge galls, mite galls, wasp galls

This is really a review of the galls I’ve found this year but the letter G simply had to be about my first ever confirmed Goshawk sighting, so K is for Knopper is my alternative lead in.

231216 Knopper Andricus quercuscalicis

Knopper galls, like the one shown above, did feature in one post this year, Acorns and galls on 1 October, but there were many other galls, most of which were new finds for me. February saw the year off to a good start with galls on Yew trees caused by a tiny midge (Galls: Taxomyia taxi, 9 February) and galls on Hazel caused by an equally tiny mite (Galls: Phytoptus avellanae, 20 February). In June, it was a small bug that was creating eye-catching galls on the leaves of an Ash tree (Galls: Psyllopsis fraxini, 12 June), and, in July, aphids were the gall causers on a Poplar tree (Galls: Pemphigus spyrothecae, 17 July). In that October blog Acorns and galls I mentioned above, as well as the knoppers, another tiny wasp had caused artichoke galls to form on the same Oak tree. And, a couple of weeks later, I found my final new galls for the year, those caused by midges on Willow trees (Galls: Rabdophaga rosaria, 17 October). All in all, 2023 was quite a galling year!

231216 mixed galls

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Galls: Pemphigus spyrothecae

17 Monday Jul 2023

Posted by sconzani in insects, trees

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Tags

aphids on Poplar, British aphids, gall, gall-causing aphid, galls on Poplar, Pemphigus spyrothecae, Poplar

During our recent wet and windy weather I’ve taken to leaving my good camera at home, going out in wet weather gear with just my point-and-shoot camera tucked in a jacket pocket. As that camera is really only good for macro shots, I’ve been forced to look at things more closely – no bad thing, and, given the frequent heavy showers, I’ve been spending more time than usual sheltering under trees. And that, of course, means I’ve been looking at trunks and branches and leaves, which is how I came to notice these odd swellings on a Poplar tree in a local park. The aphid Pemphigus spyrothecae causes the leaf petiole to twist two or three times, forming a chamber in which the aphid’s larvae can develop. I didn’t open any of the galls but, if you want to see images of what’s inside, and read more about the life cycle of these aphids, the Influential Points website is the place to go.

230717 Pemphigus spyrothecae galls

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About me

sconzani

sconzani

I'm a writer and photographer; researcher and blogger; birder and nature lover; countryside rambler and city strider; volunteer and biodiversity recorder.

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