Food Plant: Carex flacca (Glaucous Sedge), other Carex species

Egg: laid on the leaf tip

Mine: September-April

Notes: May either make a short broad mine, which fills the leaf tip or a broader one which occupies half the leaf (between the midrib and leaf edge, as shown). There may be more than one mine in a leaf. The larva overwinters in the mine and extends it in the spring. Pupation occurs in the angle of a leaf, under a girdle. Found in chalky and sandy areas throughout Ireland and Britain. Adults emerged 23.v.2022. Mine in the field on Carex sp. The larva stays in the mine over winter and resumes feeding in the spring. The old part of the mine is discoloured, brown and dry, and very obvious, while the fresher spring mining can be seen in the bottom part of the mine.

Data: 16.iv.2022, Watchet, Somerset, VC5

Image:© Will Langdon