Leafmines: Fenella nigrita

07 Monday Feb 2022

Tags

British leafmines, Creeping cinquefoil, Fenella nigrita, Fenella nigrita larval mines, leafmines on cinquefoil, sawfly larvae, sawfly leafmines

When reviewing my leafmine records yesterday and comparing them to those I’ve blogged, I realised there are several I’ve yet to cover here. Most are spring- and summer-time finds so I’ll post about them at the appropriate time but this is one I found in December – I didn’t cover it then as I was in the middle of my A-to-Z end-of-year countdown.

220207 Fenella nigrita (1)

These are the leafmines of the sawfly Fenella nigrita. Its larval mines can be found on Agrimony and on the various cinquefoils – I found these on Creeping cinquefoil (Potentilla reptans). Though the British Leafminers website reports that the mines are normally seen in summer and autumn, I found these on 3 December and the mines are occupied (I’ve added a pointer to one of the larvae in the photo below right). Presumably the mild weather meant a longer breeding season for these sawflies, as with many other creatures.

166/366 Wild and yellow

14 Sunday Jun 2020

Posted by sconzani in nature, wildflowers

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Agrimony, British wildflowers, Creeping cinquefoil, Dyer’s greenweed, Evening-primrose, Prickly sow-thistle, Silverweed, Smooth sow-thistle, yellow flowers

It’s grey here in south Wales today, which is not a bad thing as we desperately need the accompanying rain, and it also makes me appreciate even more the days when vibrant, sunshiny, cheery yellow is the dominant colour of my day. Here’s some of the yellow that’s been brightening my walks in recent days.

200614 1 dyers greenweed

Dyer’s greenweed (Genista tinctoria), found at several local sites, and the food plant for the larvae of a couple of rare moths, though I’ve yet to find any.

200614 2 evening primrose

Evening-primrose (Oenothera agg). There are several different species, which can be difficult to differentiate, and they also hybridise with each other, hence the ‘agg’.

200614 3 silverweed

Silverweed (Potentilla anserina). The Plantlife website has some fascinating information about this pretty plant – did you know, for example, that Roman soldiers used to pad their shoes with Silverweed to ease their feet on long marches?

Prickly sow-thistle (Sonchus asper). Most thistles have flowers in shades of pink-lilac-purple but not this one. I’ve included two photos, one to show the structural beauty of the flower, one to show the prickly leaves.

200614 5 smooth sow-thistle