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

A new lacewing: Sympherobius pygmaeus

The moth trap highlight on 2nd June wasn't a moth, but a lacewing.  I aim to identify all the lacewings I catch now and it's not very often I find a new species.  This was a brown lacewing, though smaller and darker than the commoner species I catch regularly so I knew it was going to be something interesting.  It turned out to be Sympherobius pygmaeus.  There are Norfolk records from 1991 and 1994 but none since, unless there have been others in the last year or two that I've not yet heard about.

 Sympherobius pygmaeus, North Elmham, 2nd June

There were a couple of decent moths too - Oblique Carpet, my second example here of this species that is very scarce in Norfolk away from the Broads, and Scallop Shell - again my second example here though it turned out to be the first of 5 here this year.

 Oblique Carpet, North Elmham, 2nd June

Scallop Shell, North Elmham, 2nd June

Other new moths for the year were Blackthorn Slender Parornix torquillella, Woundwort Case-bearer Coleophora lineolea, London Dowd Blastobasis lacticolella, Privet Tortrix Clepsis consimilana, Mottled Marble Bactra furfurana, Lesser Pearl Sitochroa verticalis, Sharp-angled Carpet and Light Emerald.

Blackthorn Slender Parornix torquillella (male, gen det), North Elmham, 2nd June

Mottled Marble Bactra furfurana (female, gen det), North Elmham, 2nd June

Sharp-angled Carpet, North Elmham, 2nd June

Other moths that night were 2 Diamond-backs Plutella xylostella, 7 Buff Rush Case-bearers Coleophora caespititiella, Little Dwarf Elachista canapennella, 2 Brown House Moths Hofmannophila pseudospretella, 3 Light Brown Apple-moths Epiphyas postvittana, Green Oak Tortrix Tortrix viridana, 4 Common Marbles Celypha lacunana, Plum Tortrix Hedya pruniana, Rush Marble Bactra lancealana, 2 Yellow-faced Bells Notocelia cynosbatella, 12 Hook-streak Grass-veneers Crambus lathoniellus, Common Grey Scoparia ambigualis, Narrow-winged Grey Eudonia angustea, Garden Pebble Evergestis forficalis, 6 Small Magpies Anania hortulata, Elder Pearl Anania coronata, 4 Common Swifts, Pebble Hook-tip, Treble Brown Spot, Red Twin-spot Carpet, 5 Silver-ground Carpets, Garden Carpet, Green Carpet, Mottled Pug, 4 Common Pugs, Clouded Border, Scorched Wing, Common White Wave, 2 Clouded Silvers, Poplar Hawk-moth, 2 Elephant Hawk-moths, Marbled Brown, Pale Tussock, 2 White Ermines, Cinnabar, 2 Heart and Darts, 2 Ingrailed Clays, 2 Setaceous Hebrew Characters, 2 Common Wainscots, Brown Rustic, 6 Treble Lines, Mottled Rustic, 2 Spectacles and 4 Straw Dots.

Caddisflies consisted of Plectrocnemia conspersa, Hydropsyche pellucidula, Limnephilus auricula, Limnephilus sparsus, Micropterna lateralis and Grouse Wing Mystacides longicornis, the first and last of which were both new for the year here.

Plectrocnemia conspersa, North Elmham, 2nd June

The next day my next-door neighbours popped round to ask me about some caterpillars they'd found in their garden.  I went round to have a look and found a communal web full of Small Eggar caterpillars (at least 30 visible).  With them breeding a stone's throw from my garden it's amazing I've never caught one, but this does seem to be a species that doesn't come to light readily.

Small Eggar caterpillars, North Elmham, 3rd June