Beating (and a weaveri update)

Here is a tiny Mottled Umber caterpillar shaken from an elm at Hollins Hall, Baildon VC64, this morning.

I lay a ground sheet underneath the tree and then shake branches vigorously and see what drops off.

This particular elm isn't quite in leaf yet, after the harsh winter, so I will probably wait a couple of weeks before returning to gather some larger larvae.

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The Ectoedemia weaveri mines now have opaque central blotches where the larvae have lined the inside of the leaf with silk and become cocoons.

Apparently, because the leaf is tough, the larvae prepare for their escape as an adult by gnawing through to the cuticle and then constructing a silk-lined corridor directed to this spot.

I am expecting an emergence at some point in the next fortnight.