Marie O’Shaughnessy writes:  Yesterday I was walking in Uplands Park between 9-10am, Thursday June 13th, and there appeared to be many butterflies because of the warmth at that hour. A light breeze was blowing.  I saw at least two more of the Sheep Moths I had seen a week ago. Much paler coloration this time and lacking those lovely pink hues. I also saw several Lorquin’s Admirals, Western Tiger Swallowtails and Painted Ladies. There were only a few Cabbage Whites in comparison with the other numbers of butterflies.

Lorquin’s Admiral Limenitis lorquini (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy

 

  Gordon Hart sends photographs of two California Darner dragonflies from his Highlands property.  We thank Rob Cannings for confirming their identification.  One of the dragonflies is in process of eating a pentatomid bug.  Gordon sends some rather gruesome details of this – too gruesome, I think, for the delicate sensibilities of readers of this site.   Rob writes:  Both are Rhionaeschna californica. The first (lateral view, eating the bug) is a female; the other is a male. The female shows the typical rather straight lateral thoracic stripes, somewhat more slanted towards the rear than in most darners. Note the black borders to these stripes, especially on the back edge.  The stripes on the front of the thorax usually seen in other species are absent (best seen in the male individual here).

Female California Darner Rhionaeschna californica (Odo.: Aeshnidae)  Gordon Hart

Male California Darner Rhionaeschna californica (Odo.: Aeshnidae)  Gordon Hart

    Jeremy Tatum sends photographs of four moths:  Aseptis binotata  from Blenkinsop Lake;  Sicya croceata also from Blenkinsop Lake;  Dysstroma citrata  from Goldstream Park: and Yponomeuta malinellus  from Swan Lake.

Aseptis binotata (Lep.: Noctuidae) Jeremy Tatum

Sicya crocearia (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jeremy Tatum

Dysstroma citrata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jeremy Tatum

Yponomeuta malinellus  (Lep.: Yponomeutidae)  Jeremy Tatum

 

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  I was at McIntyre reservoir (Central Saanich) this afternoon.  There is an absolutely huge crop of Teasel there, but not yet in flower and hence not yet of interest to butterflies.  Provided the Teasel is not cut down, there will probably be lots of butterflies there in a couple of weeks or so.  There was lots of Wild Radish in flower, and 50 or so Cabbage Whites nectaring on it, as well as two Painted Ladies.

   At 6:30 this evening there were about half-a-dozen Painted Ladies near the summit of Mount Tolmie.  There was one Lady basking on the concrete reservoir, and even though I had a prolonged good look at it, and it was a fresh, well-marked specimen, I couldn’t tell for sure which Lady it was.  Well, you will be asking, what about the apical patch?  Was it white or orange?  Was it blunt or pointed?  Sorry, I can’t tell you, because there was no apical patch!  In the end I think it was probably an aberrant Painted Lady, because I couldn’t see any of the particular features that I look for in the other Ladies.  If it stays there for a few days, perhaps someone might get a photograph of it.