HMG ProjectsLeaf Mines - October and NovemberThe map shows the Watsonian Vice-county of Hertfordshire (VC 20). Maps are not yet available for Middlesex, but records ARE wanted.The number of leaf-mining moth species is shown for each tetrad in sevens (number 1 means 1 - 7 species, number 2 means 8 to 14 species, etc). A tetrad is a group of 2 x 2 (= 4) one kilometre map squares A total of 3,929 records of 159 species make up these maps. Species mapped are those species with log book numbers from 0019 to 0127 and 0254 to 0369. The list excludes several mine makers but includes the main groups of Nepticulidae and Gracillariidae and species are mapped as a guide to where we want people to look for mines in October and November. ALL TETRADS WITH LESS THAN A NUMBER 5 ARE REGARDED AS VERY POORLY RECORDED!!! . |
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Five minutes in a lunch break, gathering mines to send to Colin Plant will probably get you ten species. A hour of bumbling about in the undergrowth by a rank beginner collecting everything and sending to Colin will get you up to 20 easily.Every tetrad in Hertfordshire should score a 4 easily (22 - 28 species); most should easily achieve a 5, and many will score a 6. The best tetrad scores a 9 and has 66 species!!! Leaf mines are made by the larval stages of insects (not always moths - but I want the others as well) that feed INSIDE a leaf. Some make tunnels (gallery mines) and some make blotches. Some cause the leaf to fold and distort - others do not. Some are white and easily seen - some are green and hard to spot. Some persist after the caterpillars have left and may turn brown (e.g., on ash, privet and lilac leaves). Some are on top of the leaf others are underneath. You need to get up close and take a good look. Look carefully at leaves on trees, bushes, herbaceous plants - in the countryside and in the garden - not forgetting garden plants as well. If it looks as if it is a mine snip it off and put it in a plastic bag. We are happy to get things that are not mines and then throw them away; that means that nothing gets missed! If the mine is from Hertfordshire or Middlesex, England, please send it to us for naming. You can bag up all the leaves from one site together for convenience Label the leaf with the name of the plant OR, if you don't know what the plant is, snip off a section of twig/stem with several leaves etc so we have a fighting chance of identifying it here. (HANDY TIP - if you avoid obscuring any part of the mine itself, you can usually write the plant name on the leaf with a biro - dry with a tissue first if it is wet!!!). Now ....... feel free to have a go at naming the mine yourself, but whether you do so or not, please send the plastic bag(s) straight away IN A CRUSH-PROOF PACKAGE to Colin Plant, Herts and Middlesex Moth Recorder, 14 West Road, Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire CM23 3QP. If the package is large, please label it clearly with the words IF OUT LEAVE AT NUMBER 12. I only go to the main post office to collect parcels if I really have to! Bags of mined leaves MUST be labelled with the following essential information.
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