On my way down to the 360 hide this morning, I noticed this unusual looking thing. After a bit of a closer look, it still baffled me as to what it was. I took a few photos to show my colleagues in the office and apparently it’s a Robin’s pincushion gall. Having never heard of one of these before I decided to do some research.
Robin's pincushion gall- Photo by Charlotte Jones
With it being so interesting to look at, this gall has lots of folklore attached to it. The ‘Robin’ in the name supposedly refers to Robin Goodfellow who was a woodland sprite of English folklore. That’s all very well but what actually is it and what creates it????
Essentially this is the work of a gall wasp. They use chemicals to change the leaf buds on the plant and create this ball of moss-like cover to lay their eggs in. These galls are mostly found on rose shrubs. Up to 60 eggs can be laid in each one and the larva hatch and begin to feed on the leaf bud tissue. They will spend the winter in the gall and then emerge in spring as adult wasps.
The galls can be very pretty, starting off green but passing through pink and crimson to reddish-brown. See if you can spot it on your right as you walk down the path to the 360 hide.