Mine of the Month – June

Thank you to everyone who took part in May's 'Mine of the Month' (details of how everyone got on are at the end of the post). After starting with a tough group, I've picked a fairly distinctive and very common target species for June: Lyonetia clerkella.

This species creates gallery (corridor) mines which are typically long and sweeping. For more photos and info, see the species pages on leafmines.co.uk, ukflymines.co.uk, and bladmineerders.nl. And here's the MMG species page.

L. clerkella on apple

Unlike most miners, this species isn't too fussy about its host plant. It's perhaps most abundant on apple trees, but can also be found on pear, cherry, hawthorn, blackthorn, rowan, and birch.

The shape of the mine usually differentiates it from nepticulid mines; however, if in doubt, examine the shape of the larva, which has indentations between segments (unlike Stigmella species).

The clearly segmented larva of L. clerkella. Photo: Tim Ward.

See also this great video from Dave Shenton:

Last month's results and points tally
For May, the challenge was to find any of birch-mining Eriocrania. Five recorders were successful (if you did record one of these species in May but are yet to send me a photo, please do so soon and I can add your point to the tally). Between us, we recorded four species (including two new for VC47).

Eriocrania sangii: GBC (Lake Vyrnwy), DHB* (Warburg Reserve; Wytham Woods)
E. cicatricella: CBo (Middletown Hill), GBC (Lake Vyrnwy), TW (Berriew), JP (Aberbechan), DHB* (Warburg Reserve)
E. unimaculella:  GBC (Lake Vyrnwy), DHB* (Warburg Reserve)
E. salopiella: GBC (Lake Vyrnwy), DHB* (Warburg Reserve; Wytham Woods)

Red text indiciates new for VC47.
* - out of county records

Points to date:

G Chambers - 1
C Boyes - 1
D Boyes - 1
T Ward - 1
J Pearce - 1