Early stages: Chrysoesthia species

Chrysoesthia drurella and C. sexguttella mines on Chenopodium seem particularly plentiful this autumn, so worth checking for.

I find the mines in various locations - gardens, rough ground, urban settings - so keep an eye out wherever you see the foodplant.

Chrysoesthia drurella

Chrysoesthia sexguttella

The dirty and the beautiful

Two recent highlights that could hardly be more contrasting, firstly the beauty that is Chrysoesthia drurella. I have found many mines of this species but this was my first adult in the UK.

And secondly the somewhat drab Pediasia contaminella, in fact named for its rather dull or dirty
appearance.