Autumn trees: Norway maple

26 Sunday Oct 2025

Tags

autumn colour, autumn leaves, colourful autumn leaves, Norway maple, trees in autumn

Today’s tree is not a British native – it was introduced as an ornamental, has been planted throughout Britain in parks and gardens, and from there has become naturalised, seeded by the wind, birds and critters, making itself at home in hedgerows, on scrubby waste ground and even in woodlands – I can see one from my living room window, growing on the edge of a small slice of regenerating ancient woodland.

The Norway maple (Acer platanoides) is handsome at all times of the year but, for me, the highlight of this tree, as with many maples, is its leaves in autumn. Their vibrant colours range from yellow through to the deepest red, and everything in between, sometimes all in one leaf.

293/366 Stigmella aceris

19 Monday Oct 2020

Posted by sconzani in autumn, insects, leaves, trees

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Tags

British moths, Field maple, leaf mines on maple, leaf-mining moth larvae, leafminer, Norway maple, Scarce Maple pigmy, Stigmella aceris

I’ve been hunting for leaf mines in recent days, the mines made by the larvae of the micro moth Stigmella aceris, which can be found at this time of year on the leaves of Norway and Field maples. Unfortunately, I haven’t made any finds of my own but my Twitter pal Gareth had the honour of finding the first mines in the Vale of Glamorgan last week so I went and checked out his find site to get a look at the mines for myself.

201019 leafmine (1)

According to the UK Moths website, this moth was classified as rare until 40 years ago, when it began increasing its range ‘dramatically’. It can now be found throughout central and southern England, and also in south Wales – it was found for the first time in Cardiff in November 2019.

201019 leafmine (2)

I’ve never seen the adult moth, which has the common name of Scarce maple pigmy – and probably never will – but you can see a photo of it on the British Lepidoptera weebly site here.