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. A mine in the field on Helichtotrichon pratensis showing the underside of the leaf with the distinctive reddish discolouration caused by mining that can be a good way of detecting mines in the field. Adult reared.

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

Image:© Will Langdon