2024 August 31 morning

No Invertebrate Alert was issued on August 30.

The Monthly Butterfly Walk will take place tomorrow, starting at 1:00 pm on top of Mount Tolmie. For the formal announcement and other details, see the Invert Alert posting for August 29 evening.  All welcome.

Richard Rycraft writes: I saw a couple of Woodland Skippers yesterday afternoon feeding on the Lavender in my Oak Bay garden..  I used to see many, but local development has reduced the wild grass areas that used to be nearby.  Plus the usual Cabbage Whites.

Many viewers, I suspect, writes Jeremy Tatum, will have observed that Lavender seems to have a special nectaring attraction for Woodland Skippers.  The caterpillar feeds on grasses – hence Richard’s reference to the lost grass areas.

Woodland Skipper Ochlodes sylvanoides  (Lep.: Hesperiidae)  Richard Rycraft

Jeremy Tatum sends a photograph of a moth from his Saanich apartment this morning.  This one, the Square-spot Rustic, like the Large and Lesser Yellow Underwings¸ is a European moth that has somehow established itself here.

Xestia xanthographa  (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jeremy Tatum