Food Plant: Picea abies (Norway Spruce)

Egg: Laid on a twig

Mine: July-April

Notes: Mines a shoot and overwinters as a small larva before resuming feeding in the spring. Makes a small hole close to the shoot tip (as shown), usually on the underside of the shoot, before pupation. Mining activity causes the leaves to discolour and then fall off leaving a bare twig (as shown).

Data: 29.iv.2023, Dulverton, South Somerset, VC5

Image:© George Tordoff