Wild West Yorkshire nature diary
marble gall leaf of Turkey Oak

Judas Tree

Friday 14th April 2000
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ear fungus ear fungus AN ELDER that has seen better days is dotted with downward-facing ears - Ear Fungus Auricula auricula. Elder has associations with Easter; tradition has it that the cross was made from elder wood and it is also said to be the tree from which Judas Iscariot hanged himself.

A Song Thrush gives a varied performance form a canal-side hawthorn, now in fresh green leaf. A Kestrel hovers over the field.

marble gall leaf of Turkey Oak An Oak that forms part of a hedgerow has hung onto to its leaves through the winter but has now shed them. The bare branches are peppered with Marble Galls, in which the larva of the gall wasp Andricus kollari grows and pupates. The generation that hatches from the marble galls are all females. They lay eggs on the leaf buds of Turkey Oak. From the small galls that develop a generation of both males and females emerge.

elm leaf One hedgerow Wych Elm is hung with confetti-like winged seeds.

Richard Bell
Richard Bell,
wildlife illustrator
E-mail; 'richard@daelnet.co.uk'

  
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