Food Plant: Eriophorum angustifolium (Common Cottongrass), Carex acuta (Slender Tufted-sedge, C.riparia (Greater Pond-sedge, Eleocharis palustris (Common Spike-rush), Trichophorum germanicum (Deergrass)

Egg: on the tip of a leaf

Mine: April-May

Notes: Mines away from the leaf tip in a gallery which starts off white then becomes a yellow-grey and more transparent. The final mine may be up to 15cms long. The larva is shown. The pupa is formed on the leaf or stem and held in place by a sliken girdle. A common species on acid heathlands and wet bogs in the UK. Adult reared to confirm from Eriophorum angustifolium (Common Cottongrass)

Bradley No: 630

National status: Local

Data: 17.iv.2022, Winfrith Heath, Dorset, VC9

Image:© Jack Oughton