When I'm looking at leaves for rusts and other fungi I often come across caterpillars of moths, especially at this time of year when larvae are fully-grown and are looking for somewhere to pupate and overwinter.
This larva of the Coxcomb Prominent moth adopted a defensive posture by throwing its head backwards, using its legs to make it look spiky.
|Larva of the Coxcomb Prominent moth|
|Ocelli of Coxcomb moth larva|
|Sawfly larva showing single ocellus|
We found another larva on Birch:
|Larva of Light Emerald moth|
Seems to be the Light Emerald moth, which overwinter as larvae.
Leaf mines are also maturing at this time of year. This is the fly Phytomyza tussilaginis:
|Mines of Phytomyza tussilaginis on Coltsfoot|
And another new species for me:
|Mines of the micromoth Phyllonorycter nicellii on Hazel|