More leaf-mines

During a dog-walk in the village yesterday I saw lots of the "snail-trail" mines of Phyllocnistis unipunctella on black poplar, all on youngish regrowth sprouting from the bases of a line of mature trees.  Those I found (20+) had finished mining and were at the pupal stage under a small leaf-edge fold which is visible on the right in the picture below. 

Mine of Phyllocnistis unipunctella on poplar, 19th September

The mines of Phyllocnistis xenia (on both white poplar and grey poplar) are similarly obvious at the moment because like unipunctella they use most of the upper surface of the leaf.  Those of Phyllocnistis saligna on willow are around too but are not quite so easy to spot due mainly to the shape of the leaf and the fact that they mine the stem as well.

I don't often pay attention to the cases used by Coleophora species, mainly because most of those I find in the garden seem to be Coleophora serratella no matter which food-plant they're on and it is just as easy to get adults from the trap dissected (thanks, Peter!).  However, having seen mention of Coleophora argentula elsewhere recently, I had a look at some dead seed heads of yarrow (Achillea) on yesterday's local walk and found three cases on the first one I looked at.  This is apparently a common moth species and (with the aid of a hand lens) would seem to be one that is fairly easy to record, yarrow being such a widespread plant.  The cases do actually stand out rather more obviously than is suggested by the image below. 

Case of Coleophora argentula on yarrow, 19th September

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks