Look out for some early plant galls appearing on male English Oak catkins now, caused by the tiny gall-wasps. More...

The lovely Cotton-wool gall (Andricus quercusramuli) hasn’t been recorded in Leicestershire or Rutland for a while – until it turned up in a National Forest site near Normanton-le-Heath this month.  Close inspection of Oak catkins might reveal two other tiny galls that are probably overlooked because of their small size – Andricus quadrilineatus and Neuroterus politus – and you may also find the aptly-named Currant galls (Neuroterus quercusbaccarum). 
 
Gall-wasps have very complicated life-cycles, with alternating sexual and asexual generations.  The Cotton-wool and the Currant galls are made by overwintering female gall-wasps.   Inside the galls, the sexual generation of male and female wasps will be developing; once these emerge, they will mate and the offspring will cause another set of galls – the asexual generation.  These galls are usually a completely different shape – e.g. the asexual generation of the Currant galls are the very familiar Oak spangle galls.    
  
Any records of these galls would be very welcome!

Photo: Melinda Bell