2016 August 28

   Jeremy Tatum writes:   Back from holiday in England.  Sorry for the hiatus in Invert Alert, but we are ready to get going again.  On my first full day in Sussex, England, August 11, I saw 12 species of butterfly.  This made me feel guilty, because I had arranged a day out on August 13 with David Harris, Sussex butterfly enthusiast, and I was afraid that I had seen so many species that there wouldn’t have been any left for David to show me.  How wrong I was!  On August 13 he showed me an additional 14 species – so that was 26 species in two days!   Thank you, David Harris, for setting aside a whole day to go out a-butterflying with me!

Now back to Vancouver Island.  Just before I left, I inadvertently missed out an observation from Gordon Hart of a Grey Hairstreak in his Highlands garden, August 6.

On August 8 we posted photographs from Annie Pang of a brilliantly coloured halictid bee, Agapostemon texanus.  Annie’s photo was of a male, with a banded abdomen.  Aziza Cooper managed to get a quickie photo, at Swan Lake on August 8, of a very active female – whose abdomen is the same brilliant green as the head and thorax.

Female Agapostemon texanus (Hym.: Halictidae)

Aziza Cooper

Aziza also sends a photo of a caterpillar of the Spotted Tiger Moth from the railing of the wooden boardwalk at Swan Lake, August 22.

 Spotted Tiger Moth Lophocampa maculata (Lep.: Erebidae- Arctiinae)  Aziza Cooper

   Liam Singh sends a photograph of a caterpillar of Cerisy’s Eyed Hawk Moth from Pedder Bay, August 22.

Cerisy’s Eyed Hawk Moth Smerinthus cerisyi (Lep.: Sphingidae)  Liam Singh

Helen Johnson sends a picture of the spectacular Banded Alder Borer from Willows Beach.  Thanks to Scott Gilmore for the identification.

Banded Alder Borer Rosalia funebris (Col.: Cerambycidae)  Helen Johnson

Jody Wells sends pictures of Woodland Skippers from Brentwood Bay

Woodland Skipper Ochlodes sylvanoides (Lep.: Hesperiidae) Jody Wells

   Woodland Skipper Ochlodes sylvanoides (Lep.: Hesperiidae) Jody Wells

  He also sends photographs of Large Heath (“Ringlet”) from Cordova Spit.

Large Heath Coenonympha tullia

(Lep.: Nymphalidae – Satyridae)

Jody Wells

Large Heath Coenonympha tullia (Lep.: Nymphalidae – Satyridae)

   Aziza Cooper reports a Red Admiral and a Woodland Skipper from the tip of Sidney Island Spit, August 27.

We also have photos of grasshoppers and bush crickets waiting in the Invert Alert Inbox – but they will have to wait for another day, while we try to get them identified.