Robin's Pincushion

Robin's Pincushion or Rose Bedeguar Galls on Wild Rose

Back in June the garden had Robins -

And the dog roses were in flower.

Now (unconnected with the Robin!) we have Robin's Pincushions.

When we moved into The Willows ten years ago the first piece of gardening I did was to plant a hedge of natural British species of shrub.  I think there are about twelve different species in it, plus a couple of trees including a Cox Orange Pippin Apple tree.  The objective of this hedge was to divide up the garden and to attract as wide a variety of birds and insects as possible.  This year, for the first time, the Dog Rose has attracted the gall wasp Diplolepis rosae.

This tiny wasp  lays its eggs in Dog Rose buds and forces them to develop into a large red-tinged moss-like gall from which the young wasps eventually emerge. The gall becomes brown as its ages and may remain visible for several years as it slowly decays.