Food Plant: Helictotrichon pratensis (Meadow Oat-grass) Elsewhere: Avena fatua, Festuca ovina, Poa trivialis, Phleum spp.

Egg: laid on the tip of a leaf

Mine: Sept-April;June-July

Notes: Makes an inconspicuous whitish blotch mine with a slightly wrinkled upper surface; the lower surface becoming purple tinged. Two or three leaves may be mined. Found in dry open habitats. South-facing chalk downland slope where mines found on Helichtotrichon pratensis in spring. Mines of Elachista biatomella, E. gleichenella (on Carex flacca) and E. subnigrella (on Bromus erectus) have also been found in this area.

Data: 01.v.2023, Aston Rowant NNR, Oxfordshire, VC23

Image:© Will Langdon