We had a lovely walk round Corstorphine Hill today. It was quite misty, with a traditional Edinburgh haar (sea mist), which lent a very autumnal feel to the woodland
The gorse buses were draped in spiders' webs, and everything was glittering with drops of water from recent rain. Spiders' webs can be very tricky to capture in photos, but I didn't do too badly today. I got decent photos of both the orb webs
and the blanket type webs, which are made by different species of spiders.
We looked closely at oak trees to find acorns and were happy to find a few full size acorns:
Some of the acorns on one of the Pendunculate Oaks have been taken over by Knopper Gall Wasps, Andricus quercuscalicis, which have created these distinctive galls - this is a young gall
this darker growth is an older gall
and only part of the acorn below has become a gall
We have had cooler weather the past couple of weeks, a few days waking up to temperatures in the mid-40s F. Nice photos of the dew on the spider web.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you had a wonderfully atmospheric walk around Corstorphine Hill! The mist and autumnal feel must have made the experience quite magical. Your observations and photos of the spider webs are impressive—capturing their delicate beauty in the mist is no easy feat. The orbs and blanket-type webs add a lovely touch to your nature walk.
ReplyDeleteFinding full-sized acorns and observing the Knopper Gall Wasps’ galls on the oaks is fascinating. The contrast between the young and older galls adds an extra layer of intrigue to your walk.
Thanks for sharing this delightful glimpse into your day!
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Lovely photos of the webs! It’s certainly becoming very autumnal down here…it’s also rained for the whole of the weekend!
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