Tag Archives: British moths

Leafmines: Coleophora follicularis

20 Monday May 2024

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As often happens, I was alerted to the existence of this leafminer by a post on Twitter of someone else finding one. So, in the following days, I pointed my walking shoes in the direction I knew I would find their host plant for a little leaf staring, and Bob’s your uncle (such a strange expression, don’t you think?)! After checking two or three clumps of Hemp-agrimony (Eupatorium cannabinum), I spotted the tell-tale feeding signs (see photos below) and, lurking beneath a leaf, my first Coleophora follicularis (Agrimony case-bearer).

240520 Coleophora follicularis

According to the British Leafminers website, as well as feeding on Hemp-agrimony, these larvae also feed on Common fleabane (Pulicaria dysenterica) and Ploughman’s-spikenard (Inula conyzae), and the times of year of the appearance of the larvae and adults vary depending on the larval food plant. When Hemp-agrimony is used, the mines can be found in April-May and then again in July-August. The UK Moths website shows an adult moth that has a subtle pattern of beige and cream stripes, a smart-looking little flier.

Migrant lepidoptera

15 Wednesday May 2024

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Despite a couple of days of cool rain this week, the cumulative effects of last week’s heat and southerly winds and today’s intermittent sunshine have brought us the first migrant Lepidoptera of the season. I actually saw my first Silver Y moth last week but, during today’s walk, another flitted up and away as I walked past, settling amongst a patch of long grass, quivering for 30 seconds or more as they do before stilling itself.

And today’s walk also produced my first Painted lady butterfly, looking remarkably well considering it had probably recently arrived from France, Portugal or Spain. The migration journeys of these smaller invertebrates never cease to astonish me.

Leafminers: Eriocrania sangii

13 Monday May 2024

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Last week I covered Eriocrania semipurpurella; this week’s leafminer is the second of the eight British Eriocraniidae moth species I’ve now found mining the leaves of Birch trees.

240513 Eriocrania sangii (1)

This dark grey larva (the colour makes this the easiest of the family to identify) will eventually develop into the moth Eriocrania sangii, which looks to be a very pretty sparkly purple if the image on the UK Moths website is true to life.

240513 Eriocrania sangii (2)

Leafminers: Eriocrania semipurpurella

06 Monday May 2024

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There are eight Eriocraniidae species of moth in Britain, the larvae of which can all be found mining the leaves of Birch trees at this time of year. And this means that, whenever I’m out walking and pass a Birch tree, I have to stop and stare at its leaves, looking for the signs of leaf mining. This is the first one I’ve found, Eriocrania semipurpurella, and it’s the biggest and most common of the Eriocraniidae. You can see what the adult moth looks like on the UK Moths website here.

240506 Eriocrania semipurpurella (1)

The entry on the British Leafminers website explains: ‘The mine starts at or near the leaf edge and then widens into a blotch. The young larva has a dark head and sclerotizations on the prothorax (as shown) [click the link to see the images]. As the larva matures it loses these dark markings….’ I am still finding these mines tricky to differentiate – the British Leafminers site has a page of images that is a good starting point, and I’m lucky to have contact with one of the site managers, Rob Edmunds, so can easily get my finds checked.

240506 Eriocrania semipurpurella (2)

Leafminers : Coleophora lusciniaepennella

22 Monday Apr 2024

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Last Wednesday I found my first active case-bearing moth larva of the year and it was a new species for me, the appropriately named Willow case-bearer (Coleophora lusciniaepennella), feeding, as its name implies, on Willow (one of the Salix species). There are not a lot of local records for this moth but Rob Edmunds of the British Leafminers website explained that these larvae feed up and disappear (to pupate) very quickly, so it seems a case of blink and you miss them. I was just very lucky. You can see the rather non-descript adult moth on the UK Moths website and find more about its larval stage on the British Leafminers website.

240422 Coleophora lusciniaepennella

My photos show the general location of the casebearer within the tree, what you see on the top side of the leaf, and views of either side of its cosy looking case.

Casebearer: Luffia lapidella

19 Monday Feb 2024

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I found this very pretty lichen-covered casebearer on fallen bark during a recent visit to Cardiff’s Cathays Cemetery (this year I’ve been doing some voluntary genealogical research, which has led to a few recent cemetery visits – not that I need a lot of urging, as this cemetery is huge, an arboretum and a SSSI). By sheer coincidence, a moth ecologist I follow on social media posted a photo the very next day of a casebearer that looked very like what I’d seen. When I asked, George confirmed my find as the larva of the moth Luffia lapidella, also known as Ramshorn Bagworm, Virgin Smoke, Grey Bagworm, and Luffia ferchaultella.

240219 Luffia lapidella

As well as covering its case in colourful lichen, the larva also eats lichen, so can be found in the damp places where lichen thrives, like tree trunks and branches, fence posts and even rocks. You can read more on the Naturespot website here.

Catkin miner: Epinotia tenerana

13 Tuesday Feb 2024

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Much excitement last Sunday! I sent this tweet to Rob, who runs the British Leafminers website:

I’ve got larvae emerging from Hazel catkins!!! The lid of the container was slightly ajar & one’s done a runner, first to a cactus, now on a succulent on my kitchen window. The other’s still in the container. Might these be Epinotia tenerana?

240213 Epinotia tenerana (1)

Rob kindly confirmed my identification of these little critters as the larvae of the Nut Bud moth (Epinotia tenerana). Though these are obviously not leafminers, it was, in fact, Rob who inspired me to collect these catkins in the first place. In a tweet a couple of weeks ago, he also recommended harvesting catkins from Birch, native Alder and Italian alder, and putting them in containers to see what might emerge from them. He wasn’t specific about what to expect but I was intrigued so went a’harvesting.

240213 Epinotia tenerana (2)

If I had the right equipment and more space, I would try to rear these larvae. If you want to try this for yourself, you can read more about this moth and find instructions on the UK Moths website.

240213 Epinotia tenerana (3)

Unfortunately, there’s no sign of anything in my other containers so I might try collecting catkins from different locations and trying again.

240213 Epinotia tenerana (4)

Leafmines: Phyllonorycter viminiella

20 Monday Nov 2023

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This was just the second time I’ve spotted these particular leafmines: they got a mention in On narrow-leaved willows, 26 December 2022, but I thought they deserved their own post. The larvae of the moth Phyllonorycter viminiella munch on the underside of Willows (usually those Salix species with smooth leaves), their feeding causing the edges of leaves to fold over and develop strong creasing in the mine, as you can see in my images below. These attractive little moths are bivoltine, so you can find the larval mines first around July and then again around October.

Leaf grazers: Carcina quercana

06 Monday Nov 2023

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I found these first on Blackthorn when looking for leafminers but couldn’t find any examples on the British Leafminers website, so I posted photos on Twitter and asked my ecologically minded followers ‘what’s this?’.

231106 Carcina quercana on blackthorn

The response was almost instant: ‘Carcina quercana does that on several trees. The silk tube is always against the midrib or a vein and they venture out to graze from there’.

231106 carcina quercana on bramble

Carcina quercana is a lovely little moth and the little silken tubes are created by its larvae. The UK Moths website says ‘The foodplants are various deciduous trees, including oak (Quercus) [hence the quercana, in its name] and beech (Fagus)’, but, as my examples here show, the larvae don’t seem too fussy about what they eat. My photos here, showing both the upper and lower sides of the leaves, are on Blackthorn, Bramble, and Buckthorn.

231106 carcina quercana on buckthorn (1)

And why did I not find this species on the British Leafminers website? Well, strictly speaking, it’s not a miner – the larvae graze on the underside of the leaf when they venture out from their protective silken homes. You might just be able to spot the larva in the photo below.

231106 carcina quercana on buckthorn (2)