Outstanding

To elaborate on the usefulness of autofocus, I do not doubt that the camera is able to calculate how many inches it has  to move the focus point in difficult situations.

Not only as an unreformed neoluddist, using manual Nikon, Leitz,  Zeiss, Angenieux  and Kinoptik lenses, but alo as a frequently disappointed autofocus user, I must point out that autofocusssing on the nearest twig and setting the exposure based on the most extreme light situation in the entire frame is NOT  one of the blessings of autofocus, rather it is part of the curse of autofocus (both on my Z7 and my CL devices.

Causa finalis is that the little field that determines where distance and exposure is measured tends to move unpredictably as the camera and its buttonry is handled. If one is lucky the point has stayed in a predictable place and not in any corner.

If, like me, one is more interested in the content of the picture than in all manners of clutter in the viewfinder, (and certainily does not wish to spend time on searching for nd twiddling  pressing any other buttons or controls  than fn1 or 2 for enlarging the central field). That the focus pont is invisibly hidden in a far corner is not easily perceived.

In conclusion, I much prefer taking time to focus and think about depth of field myself  even if birds in flight may escape unrecorded 

On recent Nikon mid and higher-end bodies, one can choose quite freely the area within which the AF system can sense subjects and measure focus errors, and finding the subject detected by the camera in a far-edge corner just doesn't happen unintentionally unless the area selected is very large. As for the corners the photographer should always be aware of the image content in the corners, if not then the method of viewing (eyeglasses, viewfinder eyepoint, color of focus point marker) may need to be reconsidered/adjusted.

I personally use custom wide-area or wide area S most of the time, with occasional single point or 9-point dynamic. For my subjects, narrower is usually better, though not a single line which can turn out to have gaps. I rarely use auto area AF with full freedom left to the camera; such situations can exist when the camera is on a gimbal and I'm shooting video with a clear single human subject, then auto-area AF works fine.

I used to do a lot of manual focusing but today I can't realistically maintain focus on a moving subject with pixel-level sharpness on the eye by turning the manual focus ring, and achieving it even on a static subject can be difficult. For wide angle and macro work, as well as video, manual focusing definitely has its place. AF can not really handle a situation where you want it to get two subjects at different distances equally within the depth of field; it's always trying to focus one subject perfectly whereas a human operator can handle this situation using depth of field and suitable lens with manual focusing. But this is not for me all that common a situation.

I believe on most cameras you can turn off the link between metering and focus area, and/or reduce it. Traditional non-matrix/evaluative metering patterns are still available.

I'll post a few gall pictures of my own later. For now, kudos to Team Ian and their initial dive into the fascination field of cecidology (=gall science).

If you open several galls, you might even find gall larva parasites. That is, a parasite on the parasite. Small parasitic weevils are often the perpetrator and wil kill and devour the wasp grub.

Early morning ride to work
The red light by the tree comes from my bike light…
Could even be called RGB
Zf & Z 35mm f/1.8

Nice project Ian
(and thank you Birna for providing the initial feedback on Ian's original image)

This might seem like a specialist topic, but I've been fascinated by the different galls that now form on oak trees in the UK. 20-30 years ago, they were generally brown,  smooth & round.

I understand that when imports of Turkish varieties of oak started to arrive in the UK, they came with a parasite that now creates really knobbly uneven shaped galls on oaks
The proportion of healthy acorns seems much fewer each year now too.