Nature on our doorsteps: Does anything eat Holly leaves?
The springtime caterpillars of the Holly Blue Butterfly feed on tender young Holly leaves and berries

Nature on our doorsteps: Does anything eat Holly leaves?

Most grazing animals tend to avoid Holly’s tough prickly leaves, particularly when there is plenty of other food available.

Leaves towards the top of the bush, however, tend not to be so prickly. In the past, these were often cut in mid-winter and fed to cattle and sheep.

Holly’s prickly leaves do not stop insects though.

The yellow-brown spots often seen on Holly leaves are caused by a very small fly, the Holly Leaf-miner.

In springtime, this tiny fly lays her eggs on the underside of soft young leaves.

On hatching, the larva eats away (or ‘mines’) the soft cells between the leaf’s top and bottom green layers.

The mature larva forms its pupa in the leaf where the adult fly develops. This emerges in summertime to start the next generation.

These spots on Holly leaves are caused by the larva of a leaf-miner fly

The caterpillar of the beautiful Holly Blue butterfly also relies on Holly. In spring, the female butterfly lays her eggs either on Holly’s flowers or on newly developing green berries.

The caterpillars eat these, along with the soft underside of young leaves.

In summertime, the new adult butterflies produce a second brood.

This time, perhaps because Holly leaves are too tough in summertime, the second brood of eggs are laid on softer Ivy leaves.

The Holly and the Ivy are therefore more closely linked than the Christmas carol implies.

By Rosaleen Dwyer

TAGS
Share This