Hiding Snails and Oak Galls

It was a bank holiday here today so Crafty Green Boyfriend joined me for my walk along the Water of Leith in Colinton andCraiglockart Dells. It wasa lovely autumnal morning, with the leaves starting to turn

 We were fascinated by the oak trees, some of which had oak apples (a type of gall caused by a parasite)

and some had this different type of gall

and this tree also had leaf scale insects on the underside of the leaves, it looks like quite a bad infestation

Meanwhile, we noticed lots of snails hiding away, in bindweed flowers 

and under raspberry leaves

and there were quite a few hoverflies around, including this footballer hoverfly (also known as a sun fly)