2023 May 5 morning

May Butterfly Walk: Message from Gordon Hart

Hello Butterfly Watchers,

   Although accidentally not included in the VNHS online calendar or The Naturalist, there is a walk scheduled for this Sunday, May 7. We meet at the top of Mount Tolmie by the reservoir, at 1.00 p.m.  You can park in the parking lot there, or in the large lot north of the summit. After a look around the summit, and depending on the weather, we will decide on a destination from there.

  You can see the most recent butterfly sightings on the VNHS Invertebrate alert: https://www.vicnhs.bc.ca/?cat=8
and you can review Vancouver Island butterflies at Val George’s website :
https://vancouverislandbutterflies.com/

Gordon Hart,

Butterfly Count Coordinator

Victoria Natural History Society

    Aziza Cooper photographed the fly below at Beechey Head, May 3.  This fly is parasitoidal on caterpillars.

Epalpus signifer  (Dip.: Tachinidae)   Aziza Cooper

   Ian Cooper photographed this Greenbottle fly along the Galloping Goose Trail on May 3.  This fly is attracted to, and lays its eggs in, decaying animal flesh, excrement, and other similar places.

Lucilia (probably sericata) (Dip.: Calliphoridae)  Ian Cooper

   Also photographed along the Galloping Goose Trail, May 3, a weevil and a butterfly:

Cabbage White  Pieris rapae (Lep.: Pieridae)  Ian Cooper