Wingspan 7 to 9 mm. The forewing colour is golden brown but is often suffused with blackish on the outer half. The white markings are well defined and partially bordered blackish.

The larva commonly mines the leaves of Rowan or Bird Cherry, and occasionally on Whitebeam or other hosts in the Rosaceae, creating a long tentiform mine along the midrib/eaf-edge on Rowan. The under-surface has several sharp folds. The pupa inside is in a strong white cocoon. The mature larva is yellow with a pale brown head.

There are several other rarely recorded Phyllonorycter species found on Rowan and Whitebeam

Adult Leafmine

Photograph the leaf with mine, and if possible the pupa and cocoon inside. 

Where Sorbus species (especially Rowan) are present.

It flies in April and May and again in August.

The larva feeds in a leaf-mine, which is wrinkled on the underside and curved into a tube on the upper surface. The whole leaflet is often strongly contorted. The most usual foodplant is Rowan (Sorbus aucuparia), but it is sometimes found on Bird-cherry (Prunus padus) and other species of Sorbus including Swedish Whitebeam (Sorbus intermedia).

Distributed throughout the British Isles, this species is generally commoner in the northern half. In the Butterfly Conservation's Microlepidoptera Report 2011 this species was classified as common.

It appears to be uncommon in Leicestershire and Rutland, where there are few records. L&R Moth Group status = D (rare or rarely recorded).

http://www.leafmines.co.uk/html/Lepidoptera/P.sorbi.htm

https://bladmineerders.nl/parasites/animalia/arthropoda/insecta/lepidoptera/ditrysia/gracillarioidea/gracillariidae/lithocolletinae/phyllonorycter/phyllonorycter-sorbi/