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). 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. Close up of the distinctive larva preparing to pupate. From mine on Carex sp.

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

Image:© Will Langdon