Description


A diary of my mothing activity covering highlights and photos from my moth trapping activities. Mainly Norfolk (UK), occasionally beyond. I may mention other wildlife sightings here, especially insects, but for birds see my birding diary.

Wednesday, 5 December 2018

Leaf mines

It was good to welcome Graham Moates to the Cathedral Meadows on 18th June.  Part of the reason for his visit was to check it out for a small mammal survey which we're still hoping he'll be able to undertake in due course.  But I also appreciated him sharing his knowledge of leaf-mines, particularly those of various fly species which I have paid very little attention to up to now.  A few examples shown below.  I tried to record what Graham said things were but I had to look some up after I got home and I'm not 100% sure I've got all these down right, so any corrections or confirmations would be welcome!

mines on Mugwort, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 18th June - I think these may be Phytomyza artemisivora? (update: Graham tells me these are grade 4 so can't be determined visually)


mine of Phytomyza chaerophylli on Cow Parsley, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 18th June


mine of Phytomyza glechomae on Ground Ivy, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 18th June


mine of Phytomyza ilicis on Holly, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 18th June


mine of Phytomyza leucanthemi on Ox-eye Daisy, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 18th June


mine of Phytomyza marginella on Nipplewort, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 18th June


mine of Phytomyza pastinacae or Phytomyza spondylii on Hogweed, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 18th June


mine on Greater Plantain, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 18th June - I think this one might be Phytomyza plantaginis


mine on Creeping Buttercup, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 18th June - maybe Phytomyza ranunculivora?  Update: Graham suspects this is in fact Phytomoza ranunculi as the frass is not in widely spaced larger spots as would be expected for ranuncilivora


mine on Broad-leaved Dock, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 18th June - I neglected to write down what Graham said about this one, but I think it might be Pegomya solennis


mine of Amauromyza flavifrons on Red Campion, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 18th June


mine on Ribwort Plantain, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 18th June - the expected fly mine in Ribwort Plantain is Phytomyza plantaginis but I don't think this is right; I suspect it is the leaf beetle Apteropeda orbiculata


mine on Rosebay Willowherb, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 18th June - I don't think we put a name to this at the time but I suspect it is the moth Little Mompha Mompha raschkiella (I've seen an adult not far away earlier in the year)


unidentified mine on grass, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 18th June - I think he grass is either Bromus or Brachypodium)


unidentified mine (?) on Elder, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 18th June


unidentified mine on Downy Birch, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 18th June


This seems to be the case of a Common Bagworm Psyche casta.

larval case of Common Bagworm Psyche casta, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 18th June


Arguably the most interesting moth larvae were in a communal web on Hawthrorn - at least 21 Small Eggar caterpillars.


Small Eggar caterpillars, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 18th June


Other moths were 2 Common Nettle-taps Anthophila fabriciana, London Dowd Blastobasis lacticolella, Common Marble Celypha lacunana, Plum Tortrix Hedya pruniana, Small Magpie Anania hortulata, Yellow Shell, Straw Dot and Snout.

Butterflies included Speckled Wood and 10 Ringlets.  There was a Banded Demoiselle, a Field Grasshopper and the green lacewing Cunctochrysa albolineata.

Speckled Wood, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 18th June


Field Grasshopper, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 18th June


Cunctochrysa albolineata, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 18th June


Hoverflies included Episyrphus balteatus, Syrphus torvus and Volucella bombylans.

Syrphus torvus, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 18th June


Volucella bombylans, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 18th June


The Broom growing along the railway yielded a couple of lifers for me: the sawfly Rhogogaster genistae and a Broom Leaf Beetle Gonioctena olivacea.

Rhogogaster genistae, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 18th June


Broom Leaf Beetle Gonioctena olivacea, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 18th June


This Black-and-yellow Longhorn Beetle Rutpela maculata was several orders of magnitude bigger and a bit more distinctive too.

Black-and-yellow Longhorn Beetle Rutpela maculata, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 18th June


This Turkscap Lily is presumably a garden escape - it's in a little patch with 4-5 species that I imagine have garden origins (though a couple of them could conceivably be wild) so I guess someone's dumped garden rubbish there at some point in the past.  Nice flower anyway!

Turkscap Lily, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 18th June

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