Spangles

This looks an awful lot better Bigger ..

Woke up with a cracking headache this morning after last night’s parents’ quiz night at school. Was the headache caused by (a) thinking really hard, answering lots of difficult questions and being brainy or (b) our table necking several bottles of wine? The fact that our team came third from bottom (and was beaten by the pupils’ team) may provide a clue.

I had a lovely walk in the sunshine at lunchtime to clear my head. Grabbing my camera and my squirrel suit (lovelupins17 knows what I'm talking about) I headed off to the nearest leafy lane where I watched a couple of squirrels pulling leaves off an oak tree. At first I thought they were eating the leaves, but they were actually turning them over and biting off the round blobby things underneath. These round blobby things turn out to be ‘spangle gall’ (I think? Perhaps someone without a hangover headache can confirm this?) eggs laid by cynipid wasps which develop over the winter and hatch in the spring. It’s unclear why squirrels eat them, especially as squirrel food is everywhere at the moment – the bushes are dripping in berries, there are conkers and fruit falling off the trees - so I can only imagine that they taste just like fruity sweet Spangles from the 70s and are delicious. To squirrels.

So there we are. Squirrel Friday with a fascinating fact thrown in for free. And should there be a question on the diet of squirrels or round blobby things on oak leaves at the next Quiz Night, we are Sorted.

Have a lovely weekend x