I hadn’t found any new leafminers for a while so was delighted recently to find two within five minutes of each other. These two mines were the first I spotted, here on the leaves of White poplar (Populus alba), though they can also be found on other Poplar (Populus) and Willow (Salix) species.

These are the larval mines of the little fly Agromyza albitarsis – you can see what the adult fly looks like by clicking on the ‘images’ tab on the National Agromyzidae Recording Scheme website. I couldn’t actually count how many larvae were present in these mines but have read that they often feed communally, forming large green blotches that eventually turns a dark brown-black colour.