2018 September 2 evening

 

   The butterfly season is drawing to a close, with perhaps the only butterflies that one might expect to find being Cabbage White, Woodland Skipper, Ringlet (Large Heath) and Purplish Copper (all from different Families!).  Three die-hard enthusiasts turned up for the monthly Butterfly Walk this afternoon –  Val George, Jeremy Tatum, and Iwan Lewylle who came all the way from Belgium to be with us.  We went to McIntyre Reservoir and Island View Beach in Central Saanich, and we saw all four of these butterflies, including both sexes of the sexually dimorphic Purplish Copper.   So – there are still butterflies to be found by those who seek them out!  In addition to the butterflies, we found – and Val photographed – a young instar caterpillar of the moth Heliothis phloxiphaga, sitting in a Gumweed flower.   

 

Heliothis phloxiphaga (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Val George