Last night was milder and brought out a few moths I haven't seen for a while such as Black Rustic and Large Yellow Underwing as well as firsts for the year including December Moth and Feathered Thorn.
I took a stroll through the village and found some rather scraggy Elm of some sorts along the main road. It is the first time I have noticed the Elm and at least it gives me a possible source for the Dusky lemon sallow I had a few years ago.
I also checked for leaf mines and think I found :
-Stigmella Aceris on a maple species
-Stigmella Tityrella on Beech
I also found a mine on the Elm. It appeared a bit like a Bucculatrix mine with the clear spaces but the logical species doesn't appear to be found in the area. Any ideas?
Hi Andrew,
ReplyDeleteYes to Stigmella aceris on what to me looks like field maple and yes to Stigmella tityrella on beech (tityrella mines start from the mid-rib, hemargyrella mines start from anywhere but the mid-rib). The one on elm is certainly an early Bucculatrix mine before the larvae vacates to feed freely outside (it has two of those typical "dead-ends" before the final exit point) and so must be albedinella. That is a fairly widespread species locally and I get the mines in the garden here as well as adults regularly in the trap.
Thanks Dave,
ReplyDeleteI thought that might be the case but my rather out of date micro info (plus the NBN Gateway) suggested it wasn't found here and i assumed I was wrong! Thanks for confirming it.