Food Plant: Cytisus scoparius (Broom), Genista tinctoria (Dyer's Greenweed)

Egg: laid on a leaf

Mine: Sept-June

Notes: Feeding starts in the autumn, in a minute case made from leaf fragments. After overwintering it mines leaves, especially from the tip. As it enlarges the case it develops a girdle of leaf fragments, which project upwards, making a herring-bone appearance. The final case, around 8mm long, on Cytisus is brown (ageing to dark grey) and yellow-brown on Genista. Pupation occurs on the stem, often high up and in sunshine (the case shown was low down in Cytisus, around 0.7-0.75m above the ground) . Found on Broom on heaths and commons and open woodland and on Dyer's Greenweed on rough pastures. Habitat where larval cases found on Cytisus scoparius. The species is common at this site.

Data: 31.vii.2021, Kent, VC15

Image:© Will Langdon