Oak Apple Gall

To Harwood Park this morning, we had an appointment with L to discuss how we might want to deal with Mum’s ashes. She loved trees, and she loved the countryside - she worked on farms through most of the 1940’s. So dedicating a tree to her seems a good way forward, and provisionally (we’ll have a family chat) we’ve chosen a young oak tree. Close by is a big field and we could hear a skylark singing. On the longest day of the year, and in glorious weather, the Park looked simply fantastic (I have added a couple of extras). It is simply brimming with wildlife, there were lots of butterflies enjoying the sunshine. If I was not here for this purpose I would have spent time exploring the wildflower rich areas. Many of the young oaks had oak apple galls, the home of the grubs of gall wasps. A sign of a healthy environment, they do no harm to the trees - in former times galls were an essential ingredient in the making of ink for writing.

Afterwards, we visited Dad, and chatted to carer B. The caring team are simply fab, and look after Dad really well.

On the way home we stopped on a roadside verge to eat our cheese rolls. The hummingbird hawk moth feeding on black horehound (I think, it’s other attractive name is stinking roger) by the side of the car was a distraction (extra).