2022 November 13

    Cheryl Hoyle sends a photograph of a Seven-spotted Ladybird Beetle from View Royal.

Seven-spotted Ladybird Coccinella septempunctata (Col.: Coccinellidae)

Cheryl Hoyle

   Val George writes:  Today, November 13, I again saw this Woolly Bear (Isabella Tiger Moth) in the corner of a window at the entrance to the nature house at Swan Lake. It’s been there for over a week – this, and the spider webs it’s accumulated during that time, suggests that this is where it’s hibernating for the winter.

Banded Woolly Bear (Isabella Tiger Moth) Pyrrharctia isabella (Lep.: Erebidae – Arctiinae)

Val George

Jeremy Tatum writes: On November 11 I wrote: Here’s a female European Winter Moth.  Has anyone seen a male yet?  –  I haven’t.   Jochen Möhr responds from Metchosin:   I think I got what you were looking for in your post to Invert Alert of Nov. 11.  It landed on my office window, and as a bonus, you are getting a picture of the underside as well.

Male European Winter Moth Operophtera brumata (Lep.:  Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Male European Winter Moth Operophtera brumata (Lep.:  Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

2022 November 11

 Jeremy Tatum writes:Uh-oh!  It’s that time of year again.  Here’s a female European Winter Moth.  Has anyone seen a male yet?  –  I haven’t.

Female Winter Moth Operophtera brumata (Lep.: Geometridae) Jeremy Tatum

2022 November 8

   Cheryl Hoyle sends a photograph of a spider seen in View Royal on November 7.

Philodromus rufus (Ara.: Philodromidae)  Cheryl Hoyle

2022 November 4

    Aziza Cooper sends a photograph of a grasshopper from Layritz Park:

Migratory Grasshopper Melanoplus sanguinipes (Orth.: Acrididae)

Aziza Cooper

2022  November 2

    Val George writes:  Yesterday, November 1, a Cabbage White butterfly flew in front of me when I was driving along Richmond Road near Mount Tolmie. I think this is the first time I’ve ever seen an adult of this species in November.

Yesterday Jochen Möhr in Metchosin photographed the underside of a geometrid moth.  He says he saw the upperside and that it was an Autumnal Moth Epirrita autumnata.  What else, he asks, would one expect at this time of year?  It is autumn, after all.  Well, we ask, can we agree that it is an Autumnal Moth from Jochen’s photograph?  Try this:  We can just  see the upperside costal margin of one wing.  Look carefully, millimetre by millimetre along the costa, all the way from apex to base.   Now compare what you see with the costa on Jochen’s October 28 photograph.  I think you’ll agree that the costas of the two moths agree perfectly, millimetre by millimetre.  In addition, we can see the prominent dark H in the middle of the forewing.  I think anyone who carries out this comparison carefully can scarcely doubt that today’s photograph is indeed that of an Autumnal Moth.

Autumnal Moth Epirrita autumnata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr