Unusual Sightings

Spending so much time wandering around the countryside, I come across things I have never seen before and it is interesting trying to find out what they are. For this I turn to the miracle of the internet - Facebook, Twitter, iSpot, etc - and usually get an answer fairly quickly.

Two of this weeks finds include:

• A group of black objects found on thistle leaves - possibly insect larvae.  They were quite small - maybe 5-6mm long - and seemed to have barbs around the edges.

• A hard, orange object on stinging nettle, making the stem bend back on itself. This was about the size of a caterpillar, but did not seem to be alive and must have been in place for some weeks for the plant to grow like that.  It is possibly a gall or an extreme case of Nettle Rust (a fungus).

Hopefully someone will be able to help me out soon.