Oak Leaf Galls

I was thinking of replacing my 5-year old laptop with a newer/lighter one, so headed to the local Tech store for a browse - I know which one I want, but will probably buy from the store's online site for delivery or collection (much easier and in probably safer in these strange days).

That decided, I headed to a local country park next to the Basingstoke Canel, and after a pre-requisite afternoon tea (i.e. ice cream), took a walk along the towpath towards Deepcut, taking in sights I used to visit regularly for my Thursday/Friday "Office Escape" when I work in Farnborough over 5 years ago before we decamped to Winchester.  In some respects, not much has changed , but I was a bit taken aback at the Deepcut end to find previously wooded land had been cleared to make way for the new housing estate being built on the old Army Deepcut Barracks - albeit the land was rather scruffy.  The price of progress.

Back at the park I noticed some oak trees with strange rings on their leaves. Apparently, these are one of the oak leaf galls, silk button spangle gall, which fortunately have little impact on the health of the tree. I thought they'd qualify for a different take on MaryElizaR's Tiny Tuesday challenge of rings or earrings.