2019 May 7 morning

    Jeremy Tatum writes:  There was a bit of activity at the Mount Tolmie reservoir at 5:00 pm yesterday (May 6) afternoon, with a California Tortoiseshell, two Pale Tiger Swallowtails and a Sara Orangetip.

   Aziza Cooper writes:  May 6, at Goldstream Heights, off Stebbings Road, there were one Grey Hairstreak and two Western Pine Elfins, as well as five Western Spring Azures.

   Aziza sends photographs from the May 5 Butterfly Walk at Munn  Road:

Leptostales rubromarginaria (Lep.: Geometridae)  Aziza Cooper

Lomographa semiclarata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Aziza Cooper

Western Brown Elfin Incisalia iroides (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Aziza Cooper

Pale Tiger Swallowtails Papilio eurymedon (Lep.: Papilionidae) Aziza Cooper

and on Mount Tolmie:

California Tortoiseshell Nymphalis californica (Lep.: Nymphalidae) Aziza Cooper

and from her May 6 visit to Goldstream Heights:

Grey Hairstreak Strymon melinus (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Aziza Cooper

Western Pine Elfin Incisalia eryphon (Lep.: Lycaenidae) Aziza Cooper

   Jochen Möhr writes from  Metchosin:  Finally, I was able to catch a few pics of a Sara Orangetip – albeit only with the tele-lens.  But she was obviously going for the right stuff.  And I don’t even know what those plants are called.  Are they a variety of mustard?

   Jeremy Tatum writes:   I’m not very good at botany, but I think I’d call the plant Hedge Mustard Sisymbrium officinale.  Will a botanist out there confirm or otherwise?  The butterfly is a female, and she was probably considering laying one or two eggs there.  I don’t see any eggs in the photo, but you might go out and see if you can find the plant again.  I have usually found eggs on Arabis, Barbarea, Cardamine or Lepidium, but Sisymbrium wouldn’t surprise me.

   [Added later:  Val George confirms my plant identitification as Sisymbrium officinale!]

Sara Orangetip Anthocharis sara (Lep.: Pieridae)  Jochen Möhr

Sara Orangetip Anthocharis sara (Lep.: Pieridae)  Jochen Möhr

2019 May 6 afternoon

    Wendy Ansell writes that she and Gerry saw two Ringlets Coenonympha tullia at Island View Beach today.

2019 May 6 morning

   (There was no May 5 posting, in case you are looking for it.)

   Jochen Möhr’s Metchosin haul for May 5 and 6:

             May 5                                                                                               May 6

6 Melanolophia imitata                                                                 6 Eupithecias

4 Venusia obsoleta                                                                           5 Venusia obsoleta

3 Eupithecias                                                                                      3 Orthosia transparens

2 Hydriomena manzanita                                                             2 Behrensia conchiformis

2 Orthosia transparens                                                                 One each of:

2 Perizoma curvilinea                                                                    Hydriomena manzanita

One each of:                                                                                                 Lobophora nivigerata

Behrensia conchiformis                                                                  Melanolophia imitata

Egira crucialis                                                                                   Perizoma costiguttata

Pheosia californica (images below)                                                Pheosia californica

Xanthorhoe defensaria                                                                  Phyllodesma americana

Selenia alciphearia                                                                         Selenia alciphearia

                                                                                                                Tyria jacobaeae

                                                                                                                Xanthorhoe defensaria

   Jeremy Tatum remarks:  The taxonomists have been uncertain about the genus Pheosia for as long as I remember.  Three names have appeared in the literature:  P. rimosa, portlandia and californica, but whether these are full species, subspecies or mere synonyms changes from year to year.  Jochen’s specimen mostly resembles the form currently called P. californica, although on this site we have been calling similar forms P. rimosa.   I’ll play it safe and label it Pheosia sp.  It’s a very nice moth.

Pheosia sp. (Lep.: Notodontidae)  Jochen Möhr

Pheosia sp. (Lep.: Notodontidae)  Jochen Möhr

Selenia alciphearia (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

      Rosemary Jorna writes:  There were 2  Grey Hairstreaks  and  1 Western Spring Azure flying on the old Tin Can Trail up Peden Bluff in the Sooke Hills.

Grey Hairstreak Strymon melinus (Lep.: Lycaenidae) Rosemary Jorna

   Rosemary writes:  There were 15 or more of these little fairy moths  at different locations along the same trail up Peden Bluff.

Adela trigrapha (Lep.: Incurvariidae)  Rosemary Jorna

   Rosemary continues:  One more moth from Peden Bluff today:

Eupithecia cretaceata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Rosemary Jorna

      Jeremy Tatum writes:   I found this beetle on Mount Douglas on May 3.  At first glance I thought it was another Eleodes (see April 30), but, if you look closely, you will see several differences.   Thanks to Charlene Wood for identifying it as Coniontis ovalis.

Coniontis ovalis (Col.: Tenebrionidae)   Jeremy Tatum

   In spite of the recent great dearth of butterflies in the area, six enthusiasts turned up for the May Butterfly Walk.  Although only a very modest number of butterflies were seen, two of our party were relative newcomers to butterflies and they saw a few “lifers”!  Starting at Mount Tolmie, we saw

2 Western Spring Azures, 2 Cabbage Whites and 1 Propertius Duskywing. Moving on to Munn Road powerlines and Pike Lake Substation, we saw 3 Sara Orangetips, 15 Western Spring Azures, 1 Western Brown Elfin, 2 Propertius Duskywings, 1 Cabbage White, and a pair of Tiger Swallowtails in copula.  Just to illustrate to newcomers that even the experts are not always certain of which butterflies they are seeing, it took us quite a long time before we agreed that they were Pale Tiger Swallowtails, the first of the year, I think, for most of us.

   On the way back, some of us stopped at the Colwood cut-off hoping to see some early Silvery Blues.  Although there were a few blues there, and one of them might have been a Silvery Blue, “might have been” is not quite good enough, so we’ll have to wait another week or so.  The lupins were showing no signs of flowers yet.  For the record, first dates for this butterfly in the last four years have been rather

erratic:  2015 May 16, 2016 May 1, 2017 May,20, 2018 April 25.

  Finally, when we got back to Mount Tolmie, a California Tortoiseshell was obligingly basking on the reservoir for us.

   Here’s a picture of a dragonfly photographed near the Pike Lake power station during the  trip:

Four-spotted Skimmer Libellula quadrimaculata (Odo.: Libellulidae)  Val George

2019 May 4^th be with you, evening

   Two caterpillars in this evening’s offering.  One found by Jochen Möhr in Metchosin:

Silver-spotted Tiger Moth Lophocampa argentata (Lep.: Erebidae –  Arctiinae)

Jochen Möhr

   One young Cat. found by Jeremy Tatum on Mount Douglas.  Even when full grown (about the size of my (male) middle finger), these caterpillars are almost impossible to detect. They are among the most difficult  of caterpillars to see.  How I managed to spot this young one (11 mm) goodness only knows!   I also saw an Anise Swallowtail while I was up there.

Catocala aholibah (Lep.: Erebidae –  Erebinae) Jeremy Tatum

2019 May 4 morning

   VNHS Monthly Butterfly Walk.   The first of this year’s monthly butterfly walks will take place this Sunday, May 5.  Meet at the top of Mount Tolmie (off Cedar Hill Cross Road) next to the reservoir at 1:00 p.m.   We’ll have an initial look for butterflies there, and then decide where to go from there.  All welcome.

   Some recent sightings from Gordon Hart from his Highlands property:

April 28th, a Western Spring Azure and a Sara Orangetip.

May 1, 1 Western Brown Elfin, 3 Western Spring Azures, and a Sara Orangetip.

May 2 , some Western Spring Azures (about 3), and a Propertius Duskywing.

Mount Tolmie, April 30, a California Darner Rhionaeschna californica.

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

   This morning’s moth haul from Jochen Möhr, Metchosin:

2 Eupithecias

1 Feralia, probably comstocki

1 Orthosia transparens

1 Perizoma curvilinea

1 Selenia alciphearia

Selenia alciphearia (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr