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