Food Plant: Calystegia sepium (Hedge bindweed), Convolvulus arvensis (Field bindweed ) and other garden Convolvulus species, Ipomaea purpurea (Common Morning Glory).

Egg: Either side of leaf. The egg is elongate and on the vein rather than roundish and beside the vein as in Stigmella freyella.

Mine: July, August; September.

Pupa: Hangs by silk threads from the blotch mine

Notes: The frass from the mine can be caught in the silken threads below the mine. The mine is characterised by a gallery leading to a clear blotch. The early mine can be confused with that of Stigmella freyella as both form galleries with a narrow central frass line, but they may be distinguished by the egg. Can be commonly found in some years.

Data: 22.x.2016, Noss Mayo, South Devon, VC3

Image:© Rob Edmunds