I took a small number of leaves home with me with a view to attempting to rear them through over the winter. I've not done this before and I don't think I got the technique exactly right (I got some good advice on the day but didn't have all the materials handy to follow it in full). I hoped it was close enough and as I write this in the spring, moths are just starting to emerge.
I took some Poplar leaves home with me containing mines of New Poplar Pigmies Ectoedemia hannoverella. There were loads of these on the ground so I took several in order to maximise my chances of success, and these have been the first to emerge. In fact I think I took five leaf-mines back with me and five moths have emerged - 4 on (or shortly before) 14th April and 1 on 15th April.
leaf-mine of New Poplar Pigmy Ectoedmia hannoverella, Lynford, 13th October
New Poplar Pigmies Ectoedmia hannoverella, 14th April, emerged from mines collected from Lynford, 13th October (top two images are same individual)
A couple of days later a Large Birch Pigmy Ectoedemia occultella also emerged.
leaf-mine of Large Birch Pigmy Ectoedmia occultella, Lynford, 13th October
Large Birch Pigmy Ectoedmia occultella, 16th April, emerged from mines collected from Lynford, 13th October
Other Ectoedemia species included Five-spot Pigmy Ectoedemia quinquella and Hypericum Pigmy Ectoedemia septembrella.
leaf-mines of Five-spot Pigmies Ectoedmia quinquella, Lynford, 13th October
leaf-mines of Hypericum Pigmies Ectoedmia septembrella, Lynford, 13th October
There was also this strange one that instead of mining leaves mines the bark. Oak-bark Pigmy is an aggregate pair - you can't tell if it is Ectoedemia atrifrontella or Ectoedemia longicaudella without rearing them through, and due to the nature of their mines they can be quite hard to collect in order to do that. Consequently neither species has been confirmed in Norfolk yet.
leaf-mine of Oak-bark Pigmy agg. Ectoedmia atrifrontella/longicaudella, Lynford, 13th October
Other Nepticulids included Double-barred Pigmy Stigmella continuella, Barred Sycamore Pigmy Stigmella speciosa, Sallow Pigmy Stigmella salicis*, Coarse Hazel Pigmy Stigmella floslactella, Beech Pigmy Stigmella hemargyrella, Chestnut Pigmy Stigmella samiatella, Rose Leaf-miner Stigmella anomalella, Apple Pigmy Stigmella malella, Buckthorn Pigmy Stigmella catharticella, Scarce Maple Pigmy Stigmella aceris and Nut-tree Pigmy Stigmella microtheriella.
*Apparently they reckon that salicis in fact comprises several different species. They're not properly named yet, but these apparently belonged to what they're currently calling 'section 6'.
leaf-mine of Double-barred Pigmy Stigmella continuella, Lynford, 13th October
leaf-mine of Barred Sycamore Pigmy Stigmella speciosa, Lynford, 13th October
leaf-mine of Sallow Pigmy Stigmella salicis (section 6), Lynford, 13th October
leaf-mine of Coarse Hazel Pigmy Stigmella flosilactella, Lynford, 13th October
leaf-mine of Chestnut Pigmy Stigmella sanuatella, Lynford, 13th October
leaf-mine of Rose Leaf-miner Stigmella anomalella, Lynford, 13th October
leaf-mine of Appe Pigmy Stigmella malella, Lynford, 13th October
leaf-mine of Buckthron Pigmy Stigmella catharticella, Lynford, 13th October
leaf-mine of Scarce Maple Pigmy Stigmella aceris, Lynford, 13th October
leaf-mine amd larva of Nut-tree Pigmy Stigmella microtheriella, Lynford, 13th October
There were quite a few Phyllonorycter mines too, including Garden Midget Phyllonorycter messaniella, London Midget Phyllonorycter platani, Hawthorn Midget Phyllonorycter corylifoliella, Willow Midget Phyllonorycter viminiella, Common Alder Midget Phyllonorycter rajella, Broad-barred Midget Phyllonorycter froelichiella, Red Hazel Midget Phyllonorycter nicellii and Dark Alder Midget Phyllonorycter klemannella, plus the closely related Willow Bent-wing Phyllocnistis saligna.
leaf-mine of London Midget Phyllonorycter platani, Lynford, 13th October with caterpillar emerging from slit
leaf-mine of Hawthorn Midget Phyllonorycter corylifoliella, Lynford, 13th October
leaf-mines of Common Alder Midget Phyllonorycter rajella, Lynford, 13th October
leaf-mines of Broad-barred Midget Phyllonorycter froelichiella, Lynford, 13th October
leaf-mine of Red Hazel Midget Phyllonorycter nicellii, Lynford, 13th October
leaf-mine of Willow Bent-wing Phyllocnistis saligna, Lynford, 13th October
I suspect I won't get a Willow Midget Phyllonorycter viminiella emerging as I got this emerging instead. I think it's a chalcid wasp, and I think they parasitise things like Phyllonorycter larvae. I hope I'm wrong though, but if not I enjoyed the wasp too, though I don't think I've got much chance of identifying it. Tricky to photograph at hardly more than 1.5 mm long...
unidentified chalcid wasp, 14th April, emerged from a pot containing leaf-mine of Willow Midget Phyllonorycter viminiella collected from Lynford, 13th October
I could see a bit more detail through the microscope but it's always hard to get decent quality images through there. I don't think the colour balance is quite right, but it was pretty bright!
the same unidentified chalcid wasp, 14th April, emerged from a pot containing leaf-mine of Willow Midget Phyllonorycter viminiella collected from Lynford, 13th October
leaf-mine of Willow Midget Phyllonorycter viminiella, Lynford, 13th October
I also had a beetle come out of the pot that contained the Southern Midget Phyllonorycter dubitella leaf-mine. I haven't identified the beetle yet, but not sure if that had come from the leaf or the compost I put in with the leaf-mine, but while I was looking at it another chalcid wasp appeared like the last one. I am not 100% sure, but I think it came from the same pot so I doubt if that will emerge either, although I think I had more than one mine in the pot so I won't give up hope on that yet.
leaf-mines of Southern Midget Phyllonrycter dubitella, Lynford, 13th October
Other leafmines included Oak Carl Tischeria ekebladella, Alder Lift Heliozela resplendella, Broom Bent-wing Leucoptera spartifoliella, Buckthorn Bent-wing Bucculatrix frangutella, Hazel Slender Parornix devoniella, Hedge Cosmet Cosmopterix zieglerella and Common Cloaked Shoot Gypsonoma dealbana.
leaf-mine of Oak Carl Tischeria ekebladella, Lynford, 13th October
leaf-mine of Alder Lift Heliozela resplendella, Lynford, 13th October
leaf-mine of Broom Bent-wing Leucoptera spartifoliella, Lynford, 13th October (lower photo shows egg at the start of the mine, a close up of the left hand end of the upper photo)
leaf-mine of Buckthorn Bent-wing Bucculatrix frangutella, Lynford, 13th October
leaf-mine of Hazel Slender Parornix devoniella, Lynford, 13th October
leaf-mine of Hedge Cosmet Cosmopterix zieglerella, Lynford, 13th October
leaf-mine of Common Cloaked Shoot Gypsonoma dealbana, Lynford, 13th October
There were also some cases found for Coleophora, including Buff Birch Case-bearer Coleophora milvipennis, Larch Case-bearer Coleophora laricella and Yarrow Case-bearer Coleophora argentula.
larval case of Buff Birch Case-bearer Coleophora milvipennis, Lynford, 13th October
larval case of Larch Case-bearer Coleophora laricella, Lynford, 13th October
With James Emerson and Graham Moates on hand there were a few fly mines identified too. The ones I noted down were Agromyza alnivora, Agromyza anthracina and Agromyza sulfuriceps.
leaf-mine of Agromyza alnivora, Lynford, 13th October
leaf-mine of Agromyza anthracina, Lynford, 13th October
leaf-mine of Agromyza sulfuriceps, Lynford, 13th October
There were some other things too, like this sawfly mine of Metallus albipes.
leaf-mine of Metallus albipes, Lynford, 13th October
There were some non-mining caterpillars found too. Best was this Pale Tussock caterpillar, although the Yarrow Pug was scarcer.
Pale Tussock caterpillar, Lynford, 13th October
Yarrow Pug caterpillar, Lynford, 13th October
There was also this hoverfly larva, not that I would have had a clue that that was what it was if other people hadn't told me.
hoverfly larva, Lynford, 13th October
A couple of adult moths were seen too: Notch-wing Button Acleris emargana and Nut-bud Moth Epinotia tenerana. Other adult insects included the caddisfly Anabolia nervosus and the leafhopper Allygus mixtus.
Alygus mixtus, Lynford, 13th October
A new bug for me was Corizus hyoscyami - there were at least 3 on some Storksbill.
Corizus hyoscyami, Lynford, 13th October
I also found this aphid on me as I was rummaging through some Sycamore foliage. I'm not sure it's a safe enough ID to officially record it but I'm pretty sure it's a Sapling Sycamore Aphid Drepanosiphum acerinum, probably 4th instar or thereabouts.
presumed Sapling Sycamore Aphid Drepanosiphum acerinum, Lynford, 13th October
Another interesting thing we found was an Alder Tongue gall, a chemically-induced distortion of alder catkins caused by the fungus Taphrina alni.
Alder Tongue gall caused by Taphrina alni, Lynford, 13th October
Other galls were caused by Willow Redgall Sawfly Pontania proxima.
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