17 Sunday Nov 2024
As mentioned in yesterday’s post, I recently enjoyed a long meander around Bute Park, in Cardiff, delighting in the kaleidoscope of autumn colours.
The 130-acre park is part parkland, part playing fields, part woodland, and part landscaped garden, including an arboretum full of spectacular trees from around the world, so my photos include not only native but also exotic trees.
13 Wednesday Nov 2024
Tags
British leafminers, British moths, Gypsonoma dealbana, Gypsonoma species, leaf-mining moth larvae, moth larvae on Oak, Oak leafmines
Two leafmine posts on one week may be a bit much for the uninterested amongst you, but this is really just a postscript to my recent post on the leafmines of two possible Gypsonoma species of moths (Leafmines: Gypsonoma species, 28 October). As I outlined in that blog I hadn’t been able to be precise in my identification as there are two Gypsonoma species that mine the leaves of Poplar. Fortunately for me, there is only one that mines Oak leaves and I managed to find several examples on an Oak sapling at Cardiff’s Grangemoor Park during a walk last week.
I was investigating any signs of leaf damage, which may have been caused by munching beetles or snails or various other hungry mini-beasties but, in this case, I was lucky to spot these four examples of Gypsonoma dealbana, where the moth larvae have used silk and their own frass to spin themselves tiny tubes to hide in (I’ve shown the upper and lower sides of the leaves so you can get an idea what to look for, if you’re so inclined). I’m not sure if the larvae were still present – I didn’t prod them to find out, though it’s likely they’ve already moved down into the soil below the tree, spun a little cocoon, and begun hibernating the winter months away.
11 Monday Nov 2024
The new leafmines are coming thick and fast this year, not because my skills are improving but rather because I’m following the right people on social media and take my inspiration for searching from what they’re finding.
Today’s leafmines, made by the larvae of the moth Ectoedemia argyropeza, can be found on Aspen (Populus tremula) between July and November. They are easier to spot later in the season when the leaves turn brown and begin to fall as the mines cause the surrounding leaf area to remain green – the so-called ‘green islands’ that some moth species have the ability to create through the chemicals they secrete, which allows them to continue feeding in their portion of the leaf. The other thing to look for with these miners is the brown mark in the leaf petiole, where the mine originated.
Though I don’t often bring home the mines I find, in this instance I had been unable to get good photos along the busy road so brought home one leaf. I temporarily forgot about the leaf for a couple of days and , when I opened the little pot it was in, found the larva had left the mine so I am also able to show you what it looks like, below.
06 Wednesday Nov 2024
Tags
British leafhoppers, bugs on Poplar, Cicadellidae, leafhopper, leafhoppers on Poplar, Poplar, Tremulicerus vitreus
The hours I’ve spent fossicking around trees and turning over leaves have really paid off this year. As well as finding lots of new leaf-mining moth species, I’ve also been lucky with my search for new leafhopper species. Here’s the latest: Tremulicerus vitreus (previously known as Idiocerus vitreus). Looking at Aderyn, the Welsh biodiversity database and the NBN Atlas, there’s only been one previous Welsh record, back in 1989, and that’s showing on NBN as unconfirmed, so mine appears to be the first confirmed Welsh record. And I’ve now found around a dozen specimens, in two locations. I get the impression that I’m the only person checking for these creatures!
The British Bugs website stresses that leafhoppers in this group are often difficult to identify but, luckily,
there is usually a pale midline on the pronotum and top of the face. Pale marks on the forewings are mostly restricted to the inner margin and the inner parts of some of the long veins….
Though the best time to find these stunning little leafhoppers is between June and October on Poplar species, the adults do overwinter, and the females can sometimes be found on conifers during the winter months. Oh, and can you see why a photo of this leafhopper was posted on social media on Halloween, labelled the ‘Dracula bug’?
04 Monday Nov 2024
Tags
British leafmines, British moths, leaf-mining moth larvae, leafmines on Poplar, Phyllonorycter comparella, Poplar leaf-miner
This was a wonderful surprise! I was checking Poplar leaves, not searching for anything in particular, when I turned over a leaf and found this tiny moth, presumably only just emerged from the pupa within its silken mine as its wings had not fully expanded.
I didn’t know what it was until I got home and checked my photos, and then was fairly sure I must have got my identification wrong as the Welsh biodiversity database was showing just four Welsh records, all closer to England, in the county of Gwent. The name I’d come up with was Phyllonorycter comparella (common name Poplar leaf-miner).
The mine certainly looked right, though it was difficult to be certain of the moth from what I had been able to see of its markings. But when I posted photos on social media, one of the moth experts I know almost immediately popped up with a comment ‘Blimey …’ and ‘I can’t think of any plausible alternatives’, and then another expert commented ‘Very good find’. And now my county moth recorder has confirmed my record. You can read more about this Poplar-leaf-mining moth on the British Leafminers website and see better photos of the adult moth on the UK Moths website.
03 Sunday Nov 2024
Tags
autumn berries, autumn colour, British trees, Celtic Zodiac, Rowan, Rowan berries, Rowan The Thinker
Did you know there is an ancient Celtic zodiac, with trees as the symbols for each of the thirteen (moon-cycle-based, hence thirteen not twelve) signs? I didn’t, until I saw a post on Instagram by the extremely talented artist Luke Adam Hawker, who has just released a series of etchings, one for each of the signs (I wish I could afford to buy the etching for my sign!).
Along with the tree images he’s been posting, he’s also listed information about the qualities attributed to people born under each sign. The Rowan tree is the symbol for a person born between 21 January and 17 February, summarised as The Thinker, and the qualities they are said to possess are as follows:
Philosophical visionaries with original and creative minds, often misunderstood due to their passionate ideals. Despite a cool exterior, they burn with inner passion, transforming situations and inspiring others with their unique perspectives.
Are you a Thinker? Do you recognise yourself in this description?
The Rowans in my images, taken at Cardiff’s Cathays Cemetery during a recent wander, are lush with berries at the moment, providing welcome fodder for both local birds and the winter thrushes currently arriving from Europe and Scandinavia.
27 Sunday Oct 2024
On Thursday I caught the train in to Cardiff, to the station nearest Roath Park, specifically to immerse myself in the gorgeous colours of Autumn, and I was not disappointed. Here are some of the glorious scenes that caught my eye around the lake.
21 Monday Oct 2024
Tags
British leafminers, leaf-mining moth larvae, leaf-mining moths, leafminers, leafmines on Poplar, Stigmella trimaculella
My leaf-mining contacts on X/Twitter and now on Bluesky were posting their lovely images of a mine on Poplar leaves that I hadn’t seen before so, of course, I went looking. These photos (and many more) are the result.
Though the UK Moths website information on their distribution states that this moth can be found ‘throughout England, where it is fairly common except in the west’ and that ‘there are records from Scotland and Wales, but very few’, there are, in fact, over a hundred Welsh records and they are scattered throughout the country.
This is Stigmella trimaculella (I love its common name: Three-spot dot), whose larvae munch on the leaves of Populus species – that’s all the various types of Poplar, as well as Aspen. The mine starts out as a thin gallery, widening as the larva grows in size, eventually becoming a silvery blotch. As you can see in the photo below left, the larva is a greenish-yellow in colour and has a brown head. The mines can be found twice each year, between June and July and again from September to October.
14 Monday Oct 2024
Tags
British moths, cones on Hawthorn leaves, Hawthorn, leaf-mining moth, leaf-mining moth larvae, leafmines on Hawthorn, moth larva spinning, Parornix anglicella
Recently, when checking Hawthorn leaves for leafmines, I spotted two of these larvae spinning on separate but close Hawthorn bushes so took several photos of both and a short video of one.
As the majority of photographs show larvae from above not below, and these both looked to have dark spot-like markings, I was confused about which species they might be, perhaps Parornix anglicella or maybe Phyllonorycter oxyacanthae. And I wasn’t the only one scratching my head, as my online expert contacts weren’t sure either – one of them even contacted their own expert to get an opinion. A return visit by me was clearly required, to try to re-find the larvae, possibly get more images, and see what had developed from their spinning activities.
So, while the location was fresh in my memory, I walked that way again the following day, and, amazingly, managed to find one of the leaves – not an easy task finding an individual leaf in a Hawthorn bush but the photo below shows the leaf in question, on consecutive days.
And, when I turned the leaf over, there was the proof of identification, the distinctive cone of Parornix anglicella, still very green as the larva within hadn’t yet had time to eat all the leaf from inside. Turns out the expert’s expert had been correct!
07 Monday Oct 2024
Tags
Aspen, Aulagromyza tremulae, leaf-mining flies, leaf-mining fly larvae, leafmines on Aspen, leafmines on Black poplar
I don’t find many leafmines on Aspen, probably because there aren’t a lot of Aspen trees growing locally. Also, I haven’t been finding many mines made by creatures other than moths but today’s find is an exception, as these silvery meandering gallery mines on Aspen leaves were made by the larva of the tiny fly Aulagromyza tremulae.
If I hadn’t been doing a spot of leaf-turning, I could easily have missed these mines, as they are almost exclusively made in the lower surface of the leaf (see images below showing the lower and upper leaf surfaces). This is one of the characteristics that distinguishes these mines from those of other species, though Barry Warrington, who runs the National Agromyzidae Recording Scheme and website, discovered this wasn’t always the case when he recently bred Aulagromyza tremulae flies from upper surface mines. (Barry has confirmed the identity of the mines pictured here, fortunately.)
This little fly has two broods per year, so mines can be found on Aspen (Populus tremula), and also on Black poplar (Populus nigra), in the early summer and again in early autumn. I haven’t managed to find any images of the adult fly so maybe I should try to breed one through to see what they look like. If that happens, there’ll definitely be a show-and-tell post.
earthstar 
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