Sunday July 29

Last night, with the rain lashing against the window of the bathroom, I noticed a tiny moth in the sink. It was unfortunately dead, and looked smaller than a grain of rice.

Despite this, I decided to photograph it on the palm of my hand, and was surprised to discover it was a lovely pattern of orange with white stripes and black streaks. A quick check of the internet revealed that quite a number of the family Gracillariidae look like that. Nevertheless I suspected I knew what it was and so emailed a shot over to JS. He came up with the same species, Horse-chestnut Leaf Miner.

Horse-chestnut Leaf Miner

Who would suspect that so tiny a creature could be public enemy number one to the organisers of the World Conker Championships?