Food Plant: Brachypodium sylvaticum (False Brome), Bromus erectus (Upright Brome) and other Gramineae (Grasses).

Egg:  Often two or three close together on the upper side.

Mine: November-May; July.

Pupa: Attached to leaf or stem with silken girdle.

Notes: Initially a narrow brownish mine with blackish frass at its base. The larva then moves to another leaf, forming a broader mine. Both mines can pucker the blade. A spring mine in a leaf of Brachypodium sylvaticum . This mine started with the dark brown section visible just behind the larva, and proceeded up into the leaf tip before the larva turned around and mined back down, broadening its mine as it did so. This is a typical feeding pattern for this species.

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

Image:© Will Langdon