Local in woodland and gardens; the stronghold of the species nationally is in Hampshire, with records from south-east England and East Anglia and only scattered occurrences in the Midlands. The first county record, at Wickham in 1986, was originally thought to be S. atricapitella until bred through; turned up on the Isle of Wight in 1997 and in north Hampshire at Yateley in 2000. Wingspan 5-7 mm. Imago closely resembles S. atricapitella, but frons generally yellow in samiatella. Larva mines leaves of Sweet Chestnut and Oak, over-wintering as a pupa. Mines on Oak are difficult to separate from those of S. svenssoni without breeding through. The mines are described in the following link:
leafmines.co.uk
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Flightime guide
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