Food Plant: Luzula sylvatica (Greater Wood-rush), L.pilosa (Hairy Wood-rush)

Egg: laid on underside of leaf

Mine: September-May

Notes: In the autumn a long thin gallery is formed, which may change direction. After hibernation an elongated blotch is formed, which may obliterate the early mine. The larva exits the mine to pupate. Found in shady deciduous woodland and gorges. A mine on Luzula pilosa. The mine begins in the lower part of the leaf as a thin, straight, brownish gallery between the veins (start visible on the left). This runs up almost to the tip of the leaf before the larva turns around and the mine broadens, taking a more wayward route up and down the leaf.

Data: 29.i.2023, Hawk's Nest Combe, South Somerset, VC5

Image:© Will Langdon