Something useful which everyone can look out for right now are active mines of
Phyllonorycter platani on London Plane, a tree commonly found in supermarket car-parks. The blister mines are large and very obvious and there are often several on the same leaf. The pictures below are from a fallen leaf found this afternoon at Waitrose in
Thame, Oxon and last year I found them at both of the large Tesco outlets in
Aylesbury, Bucks. Even the solitary tree here in our village of Westcott had the mines when checked a week or so ago. This is another species like
Ectoedemia heringella on Holm Oak and
Cameraria ohridella on Horse Chestnut which is a fairly recent invader from the continent and is spreading quite quickly.
Dave Wilton
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| Leaf of London Plane, Thame 12th November |
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| Mine of Phyllonorycter platani, Thame 12th November |
Last year Tesco, this year Waitrose. So: are the moths moving upmarket as they sweep across the land?
ReplyDeleteShopping?
ReplyDeleteWell, that's evolution for you.... it takes many unexpected twists and turns.
DeleteI think they've actually been moving down-market. They started off in central London, so that would have been Fortnum and Mason. In Milton Keynes I'd start looking at Aldi or Lidl...
ReplyDeleteHa! Take note, good people of MK, I think you've just been dissed!
DeleteFact: I have found platani just outside PC World in sunny Watford - true, but I'm not sure what to make of it.