Food Plant: a wide variety of grasses

Egg: near the tip of the leaf

Mine: autumn - May

Notes: It makes a small narrow mine in the autumn and overwinters. In the spring it changes leaves and mines tip downwards. The mine fills the leaf width. The frass is packed in the top of the mine (as shown). Imago reared to confirm identity.The underside of the leaf of Helichtotrichon pratense, showing reddish discolouration in the oldest part of the mine.

Data: 20.iii.2023, Aston Rowant NNR, Oxfordshire, VC23

Image:© Will Langdon