Moths for Christmas

 After Christmas lunch yesterday we popped out for some fresh air and a dog walk at Coombe Hill. As usual there was a cheerful display of yellow Gorse flowers, but I had forgotten how much Broom there is alongside the Gorse here. Prompted by Will Langdon's recent records of larvae on Broom I spent a short time searching and found two species.

First was the Broom Dot (Trifurcula immundella), which mines the stems of Broom. The mines are quite inconspicuous and if Will hadn't shared photos of his recent Berkshire records I don't think I would have found them, but there were some dark marks on one of the first Broom stems I looked at and under the lens they fitted the description of the mines well. To confirm this species you also need to look for the empty egg shell that often remains on the stem after the larva has hatched.

Broom Dot (Trifurcula immundella) mines and egg on Broom

I also found some other dark marks on the Broom shoots, and this time they were associated with some silk spinning to join two shoots together. On splitting the spinning apart a small brown larva could be seen, which was adept at moving up and down the stem. It had left feeding marks on the of the two stems that were joined together, and had a 'tunnel' within one of the stems that seemed to be its hideout. This is the Speckled Broom Buff (Agonopterix assimilella). Apparently Light Brown Apple Moth (Epiphyas postvittana) also makes spinnings on Broom, but tends to join more than two stems together, and has a paler green larva.

Speckled Broom Buff (Agonopterix assimilella) feeding marks and larva on Broom.

Although these moths are widespread and probably found in many places where Broom grows, there are few records for Upper Thames, and both of them appear to be new for the site, and are species I hadn't recorded before - a great Christmas treat!