5: OPOSTEGIDAE, 6: HELIOZELIDAE, 10: TISCHERIIDAE

5.001 Sorrel Cap (Opostega salaciella) to MV light at Hollin Hall, Hardcastle Crags on July 21st 2017. The basal segments of the antennae are modified in to eye-caps so when the moth is at rest they shield the eyes. They share this feature with the Nepticulids and Bucculatricids.

6.001 Shining Dogwood Cutter (Antispila metallella) mines and cut-outs in Dogwood, Salterhebble, Halifax on Aug. 12th 2025.

6.001 Shining Dogwood Cutter (Antispila metallella) mine and cut-out, details above.

The cut-out is 6mm in length which helps distinguish it from Antispila petryi.

6.001 Shining Dogwood Cutter (Antispila metallella) mine, details above.

At the start of the mine (shown here) there is often a line of trial slits made by the female's ovipositer. This can be perpendicular to the mine and I believe these are the brown flecks in the photo. This is another feature that separates the mine from A. petryi.

6.001 Shining Dogwood Cutter (Antispila metallella), a third mine found six days after the mines pictured above and at the same site.

This cut-out had a strange construction inside which I initially thought may have been the work of a parasitic wasp larva. It appears however to be the egg of a lacewing, they create this stem and lay on top of it to deter predators.

6.001 Shining Dogwood Cutter (Antispila metallella), a close-up of the cut-out above.

6.004 Alder Cutter (Heliozela resplendella) mine in Common Alder at Tag meadow, Cromwell Bottom on Sept. 9th 2025. 

A line of frass can just be made out along the mid-rib, then along a side vein where it then crosses the leaf blade into another vein and then back towards the mid-rib. The larva perished before reaching the cutting stage. I believe the mine at the top of the photo to be that of Phyllonorycter stettinensis.

6.005 Birch Cutter (Heliozela hammoniella) mine and cut-out in Downy Birch, Norland Bilberry Slopes, Oct. 8th 2017. The larva mines the petiole then in to the mid-rib and finally the leaf blade where it makes a blotch mine. It excises this mine and uses it to create a protective case before falling to the ground to pupate. It leaves behind a neat oval encompassed by a dead, brown "lasso". It was interesting to dissect the mine tracing the tunnel of frass back to the base of the petiole.

10.001 Oak Blotch-miner (Tischeria ekekebladella) mine in oak, Eaves Top wood, Nov. 23rd 2016.

10.001 Oak Blotch-miner (Tischeria ekekebladella) mine and larval chamber in oak, Norland village, Feb. 2nd 2012. Carefully peeling back the chamber wall reveals an overwintering larva.

10.001 Oak Blotch-miner (Tischeria ekekebladella) Apr. 3rd 2010. Reared from mines found in oak in North Dean wood the previous October.

10.003 Bramble Blotch-miner (Coptotriche marginea) mine in bramble, Tag meadow, Cromwell Bottom, Mar. 22nd 2018. In late winter the mines have weathered and whitened, they're a blotch with random fingers protruding in to the leaf. 

10.003 Bramble Blotch-miner (Coptotriche marginea) mine with the larva to the right hand side. They were in bramble at Bankhouse wood, Feb. 7th 09. A strange experience searching for leaf mines while there's still a good covering of snow on the ground.

10.003 Bramble Blotch-miner (Coptotriche marginea), May 1st 2014. Reared from a mine in Bramble found in Long wood on Mar. 14th the same year.