Early stages

In case anyone needs reminding, there are still quite a few moths active as larvae at this time of year and a quick look around the garden here at lunchtime today produced evidence of four of the easiest ones to find.  

Stigmella aurella appears to be continuously-brooded on bramble and I found more than 30 mines on the softer recent growth but unfortunately they were all freshly vacated (there were also quite a few mines on the older more brittle leaves but they'll be leftovers from last summer/autumn).  I usually manage to find an active mine or two in early January but the warmer weather must have spurred them on more quickly towards pupation.  Finding one with a larva inside at this time of year is useful and I shall continue looking because it means there's no chance of confusion with the rather similar Stigmella splendidissimella which only feeds in the summer and autumn.  Coptotriche marginea, another bramble feeder, is also active at the larval stage at the moment and two of its mines were found in the garden.

Active mine of Coptotriche marginea on bramble
Westcott 4th January

Phyllonorycter leucographella feeds on the evergreen leaves of pyracantha throughout the year and at least five active mines were found on our bush today in a very cursory search.  The moth does use other plants too (I've found it on apple, hawthorn & rowan in the garden) but, fairly obviously, only when they are in leaf.

Active mine of Phyllonorycter leucographella on pyracantha
Westcott 4th January

I opened up five teasel heads and the largest one contained a larva of Endothenia gentianaeana, which is separated from Endothenia marginana (another user of teasel) by the lack of an anal comb - this can be confirmed quite easily using a x10 hand lens.  After the photo session the teasel head was resealed using an elastic band and placed back out in the garden where the caterpillar will hopefully be able to continue its development.

Larva of Endothenia gentianaeana in teasel head
Westcott 4th January

Another easy-to-find leaf-miner at the moment is Ectoedemia heringella on holm oak Quercus ilex.  I've had the adult moth in the garden on a few occasions but we don't have the tree which isn't really a native of our local area although it is often planted on country estates and in churchyards.  Holm oak is fairly easy to spot at the moment because it is an evergreen.  My nearest known trees are a couple of miles away in Waddesdon and I went there this afternoon to have a quick look at them.  They are a small group of about five relatively young holm oaks on the Rothschild Estate and, as expected, they were absolutely covered in mines.  The fairly typical leaf shown below has more than 60 on it so you can easily imagine that each of those trees is currently home to thousands of the caterpillars although they don't seem to have much of an adverse effect on their host.  I doubt if there is a holm oak left in our three counties which isn't infested with heringella now.  It has spread rapidly across the region much like the Horse Chestnut Leaf-miner Cameraria ohridella.  

Mines of Ectoedemia heringella on holm oak
Waddesdon 4th January

Finally, those of you still running garden traps at the moment might well come across larvae of Angle Shades or Large Yellow Underwing which occasionally wander towards the light on warmer winter nights.  

Dave Wilton Westcott, Bucks