Food Plant: Agrostis spp. (bent grass), Festuca (Schendonorus) arundinaceus (Tall Fescue), Deschampsia cespitosa (Tufted hair-grass), Brachypodium pinnatum (tor-grass), Carex spp.,

Egg: at leaf tip (singly or in groups)

Mine: February-May; July

Notes: Mines downwards from leaf tip to stem. Makes a long narrow yellowish mine. May be up to four larvae in one leaf. The larvae are yellowish with a brown head and prothoracic plate. Mines in Festuca (Schendonorus) arundinaceus (Tall Fescue). A mine in the field on Tall Fescue. Mines are very thin and whitish (and there is often damage on Tall Fescue which looks similar), but can be found with careful searching. This one is on a grass blade running from the top left of the image, in the centre. Adults reared to confirm the ID. Emerged 06.xii.2021.

Data: 07.xi.2021, Marston Meadows, Oxfordshire, VC23.

Image:© Will Langdon