2023 August 9 morning

   Val George sends a picture of a Mint Moth, one of the many that have been frequenting his mint patch for a couple of months.

Mint Moth Pyrausta californicalis (Lep.: Crambidae) Val George

Gordon Hart writes from Highlands: Just a note to say we saw two quite worn Lorquin’s Admirals on August 7.  I was trying to photograph one, when a Wall Lizard attacked it. I was glad the butterfly managed to avoid the lizard and fly away.  Other than that, we saw just one Woodland Skipper and many bees.

Jeff Gaskin writes:       Kirsten Mills and I had an especially good time with dragonflies on August 7th.  At McIntyre Road reservoir we saw six species of dragonflies that included the following:   9 Blue-eyed Darners,  4 Common Green Darners,  3 Black Saddlebags,  4 Blue Dashers,  15 Western Pondhawks, and 4 Eight-spotted Skimmers as well as the usual two damselflies: 40+ Tule Bluets and 4 Pacific Forktails.

The butterflies we saw included :   2 male Purplish Coppers, 13  Woodland Skippers and 25 Cabbage Whites.

At Outerbridge  Park, where we went again for a second day in a row,  the dragonflies we saw included 2 Blue Dashers,  6 Paddle-tailed Darners and a Striped Meadowhawk.

Finally we went to Esquimalt Lagoon, where we counted an incredible 58 Variegated Meadowhawks all along the beach.  Also, it’s worth knowing that we only covered about 40% of the lagoon as we walked along both the lagoon and the beach sides.  There could easily have been over 100 of these usually hard to find Meadowhawks.

Here are photographs, by Kirsten Mills, of some of the insects mentioned by Jeff;

Purplish Copper  Lycaena helloides (Lep.: Lycaenidae) Kirsten Mills

Variegated Meadowhawk  Sympetrum corruptum
(Odo.: Libellulidae)
Kirsten Mills

Striped Meadowhawk  Sympetrum pallipes (Odo.: Libellulidae)  Kirsten Mills

Western Pondhawk Erythemis collocata   (Odo.: Libellulidae)  Kirsten Mills

Blue Dasher Pachydiplax longipennis (Odo.: Libellulidae)
Kirsten Mills

Blue-eyed Darner Rhionaeschna multicolor (Odo.: Aeshnidae)  Kirsten Mills

Jeff Gaskin writes:    Yesterday, August 8, Kirsten Mills and I went to the Cowichan Valley.  Along the trail west of the Duncan sewage lagoons we saw both a Lorquin’s Admiral and a Western Tiger Swallowtail.  Then at someone’s private residence on Riverside Road again in Duncan we saw another Lorquin’s Admiral.

Marie O’Shaughnessy sends photographs of the Variegated Meadowhawk from Esquimalt Lagoon, August 8.  She writes that there were many more there in the sunshine.

Male Variegated Meadowhawk Sympetrum corruptum
(Odo.: Libellulidae)
Marie O’Shaughnessy

Male Variegated Meadowhawk Sympetrum corruptum
(Odo.: Libellulidae)
Marie O’Shaughnessy

Female Variegated Meadowhawk Sympetrum corruptum
(Odo.: Libellulidae)
Marie O’Shaughnessy