With thanks to two green fingered Caerlaverockans who have let us know about this interesting research – gardeners and allotmenteers may have some ideal candidates for this research!

“Got any blotches on your beetroot, squiggles on your spinach or Swiss Chard?  We saw a Tweet from a University of East Anglia PhD student, Siobhan Hillman, who is looking for samples of such leaves (see photo).
She is studying four fly species that attack sugar beet leaves.  In their larval stage these flies “mine” the leaves, ie the tiny larva tunnels between the two layers of a leaf, eating the fleshy inner layer as it goes and creating pale wiggly lines and/or blotches.  The flies that attack sugar beet also attack spinach, beetroot and Swiss Chard and Siobhan is looking for samples of mined leaves from people’s gardens and allotments.  The aim is to identify the flies and determine their UK distributions.  There’s more about it on the project website.
We emailed Siobhan photos of two of our beetroot leaves.  She sent us a plastic container and pre-paid envelope – and the leaves went off in the post today to Norwich.
Thought we’d mention it in case anyone else wished to take part.  All the info – including Siobhan’s email address – is on the project website.”
Project website address:
If you have anything which may be of interest to others in Caerlaverock, do let us know and we’ll share it for you!
caerlaverockcommunity@gmail.com