It may be winter but there are still leaf mines to check for, if you live in a location where the Cow parsley (Anthriscus sylvestris) is already springing up – here in coastal south Wales, I’ve even spotted a few flowers, though the official flowering period is April to June.

The leaf miner is a fly, Phytomyza chaerophylli, whose larvae munch their way through the leaves of several umbellifer species and can usually be seen from early spring right through to the end of summer, sometimes even earlier and later if the temperatures are mild enough. You can read more about these leaf mines and see more images on the UK Fly Mines website.