2024 September 2 morning

Gordon Hart writes:  Here is a summary of yesterday’s Butterfly Walk There were no butterflies at Mount Tolmie at 1 p.m. but we decided that Island View Beach might be a good place to look. Six people made their way there, and decided to take the beach path as we thought it might be a bit cooler closer to the water. It was still very warm, but we did see at least 23 butterflies of three species, plus a mystery moth in flight, and several bee and wasp species. Butterflies seen were: Cabbage Whites, 7+; Purplish Coppers, 3 males, 3 females; and Woodland Skippers, at least 7.
The moth was possibly a Vapourer Moth, or Rusty Tussock Moth, inferred from its manner of flight.

Jeremy Tatum adds: The Purplish Coppers were the first reported this year.  I was afraid that we might go through the whole year without any being reported.  The first two seen on yesterday’s walk were a male and a female (they are quite distinctive), being very cooperative as they nectared on the flowers of a nearby Gumweed.  They caused great excitement among the participants, several of whom were armed with big cameras, which were fairly clicking for several minutes.

Here are some photographs taken during the walk.  Note the copper’s scientific genus name change from previous years.

Male Purplish Copper  Tharsalia helloides  (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Val George

Male Purplish Copper  Tharsalia helloides  (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Gordon Hart

Female Purplish Copper  Tharsalia helloides  (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Gordon Hart

Woodland Skipper Ochlodes sylvanoides  (Lep.: Hesperiidae)  Gordon Hart

Woodland Skipper Ochlodes sylvanoides  (Lep.: Hesperiidae)  Gordon Hart

Ian Cooper has been away in Ontario for a while visiting relatives.  He is now back and has wasted no time in getting his camera clicking here again on the Galloping Goose trail near Talcott Road in View Royal, August 31.

Large Yellow Underwing Moth – Noctua pronuba  (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Ian Cooper

Snail-eating Beetle – Scaphinotus angusticollis (Col.: Carabidae)  Ian Cooper

Limax maximus  (Pul.: Limacidae)  Ian Cooper

  Dr Robb Bennett kindly confirmed Ian’s identification of the spiders below.

Female Callobius pictus (Ara.: Amaurobiidae)  Ian Cooper

Male Callobius pictus (Ara.: Amaurobiidae)  Ian Cooper

2024 September 1

   Marie O’Shaughnessy writes that on August 30, she spent 45 minutes in the afternoon at Government House and saw

2 Cabbage Whites
4 Woodland Skippers
1 Blue-eyed Darner
1 Paddle-tailed Darner

She sends a photograph of one of the Woodland Skippers.

Woodland Skipper  Ochlodes sylvanoides  (Lep.: Hesperiidae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy

Jeremy Tatum shows a photograph of a moth that ecloded (emerged) today, reared from a caterpillar found on Gumweed at Island View Beach during the August 4 VNHS Monthly Butterfly Walk.

Heliothis phloxiphaga  (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jeremy Tatum

2024 August 31 evening

Gordon Hart writes: At Whiffin Spit today, Anne-Marie and I finally spotted something other than a Cabbage White. It was “only” a Painted Lady, not the American Lady, but still nice to see. It was nectaring on Sea Rocket. Interesting that the Cabbage Whites seemed to prefer the yellow Gumweed flowers, but the Painted Lady went from plant to plant of the Sea Rocket.

Painted Lady Vanessa cardui  (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Gordon Hart

2024 August 29 evening

Monthly Butterfly Walk  Sunday September 1

Join us on our monthly Butterfly Walk. Each outing is intended to help us learn more about local butterflies. This field trip is weather-dependent as it needs to be sunny and warm to make it worthwhile. We start at the top of Mount Tolmie (off Cedar Hill Cross Road). Meet at 1 p.m. in the lot by the reservoir where we will have an initial look for butterflies and then decide where to go from there. Car-pooling is encouraged. We try to return by 4 p.m. Cancellations or special instructions will be posted on the Invertebrate Alert ( https://www.vicnhs.bc.ca/?cat=8 ) or the calendar (https://www.vicnhs.bc.ca/?page_id=1518 ) closer to the date. Contact Gordon Hart at 250-721-1264 or butterflies@vicnhs.bc.ca for more information.

Butterflies seem to be relatively few at present.  However, this time of year is the time for the possibility of seeing some exciting migratory butterfly, such as a sulphur or a lady.  In any case, there are still quite a lot of dragonflies and damselflies around, so we can make this a combined trip to see and identify butterflies and dragonflies.  It will probably be a good idea to select as our destination somewhere where there be dragons.

Aziza Cooper writes:  Today, August 29, at Cowichan Station, there were four Margined Whites, two Cabbage Whites, one Woodland Skipper and a brief look at a possible Mylitta Crescent.

Margined White  Pieris marginalis  (Lep.: Pieridae)  Aziza Cooper

Margined White  Pieris marginalis  (Lep.: Pieridae)  Aziza Cooper