New Phyllos

We finally got around to repatriating some potted plants and stuff into the garden today. Whilst the works were ongoing, anything we had in pots was moved around to the front and essentially buried out of the way behind the bins, bikes and a few other bits. Most have fared well and, dare I say it, thrived.

Anyway, aside from the mild feeling of having got something done and dusted, it turned out to be a very lucky activity. One of the plants was my hawthorn sapling. The only reason I have been trying to grow a hawthorn (and a sallow) in a pot was the potential to draw in one or two new moths. We it worked, as aside from some (expected) Parornix anglicella mines there were a good number of Phyllonorycter mines, all like these:

These are the mines of Phyllonorycter oxyacanthae, new for the garden. Most appeared empty, but one had a live larva and several had dead larvae.

Even better, I found a number of similar-looking mines on our 'Himalayan Honeysuckle' [Leycesteria formosa]. These had very strong creases in the lower epidermis, with numerous mines including a few leaves with two mines. I opened several up and found many had brown papery-looking oval cocoons. They seemed to be a very good match to Phyllonorycter emberizaepenella, and a quick check on the British Leafminers FB page got the thumbs up. This is not only new for the garden but new for me too.

Here's something from another 'Phil O.'