Miner season shifts up a gear

The number of miners is now steadily on the rise. Here are some of the latest finds...
 Antispila metalella mine in Dogwood
 
Lyonetia clerkella mine on Hawthorn
 
Stigmella hybnerella mine on Hawthorn
  Phyllonorycter oxyacanthae mine on Hawthorn Phyllonorycter oxyacanthae mine on Hawthorn - underside

Early stages: Phyllonorycter leucographella plus one

Otherwise known as the Firethorn Leaf Miner.

Given the widespread nature of the larval food plant, Pyracantha, this one can be found in many gardens and suburban locations and is spreading rapidly northwards.  If you do find this one, there tends to be hundreds of mines on any given Pyracantha, sometimes it seems that almost all leaves are affected.



Final word on this, when searching on Pyracantha, keep an eye out for other mines as I recently found this one, which although waiting to rear through for ultimate confirmation, this appears to be the first UK record on this food plant for Phyllonorycter oxyacanthae.

Phyllonorycter oxyacanthae mine on Pyracantha - the first UK record on this plant, East Kent, April 2013.

Early Stages: Hawthorn miners in abundance

All of the hawthorn hedgerows I look at are currently covered in mines of a range of species, here are four species from the last couple of days:

Ectoedemia atricollis
 


Parornix anglicella
 

Phyllonorycter oxyacanthae

Phyllonorycter corylifoliella

Dave