2022 September 16

    Mike Yip writes:    With the temperature just barely 9° C during a family visit to Paradise Meadows on Mount Washington, I had no expectations of seeing any butterflies, but to my surprise we saw three. The first was a Hydaspe Fritillary that I flushed off the boardwalk when I wasn’t paying attention;  the second a fly-by Mourning Cloak; and the third a beautiful pre-hibernation Mourning Cloak in pristine, new generation colours basking on the boardwalk. The photo doesn’t do it justice as it was absolutely striking in the bright, filtered sunlight.

Mourning Cloak Nymphalis antiopa (Lep.:Nymphalidae)  Mike Yip

2022 September 15 evening

    Jeremy Tatum sends photographs of eggs of the Large Yellow Underwing moth on a leaf blade of Reed Canary Grass from Martindale Road.

Large Yellow Underwing Noctua pronuba (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jeremy Tatum

Large Yellow Underwing Noctua pronuba (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jeremy Tatum

2022 September 15 morning

   Aziza Cooper sends a photograph of a small moth at her house, September 14:

Udea profondalis (Lep.: Crambidae)  Aziza Cooper

Jeremy Tatum sends a photograph of a caterpillar found near Blenkinsop Lake today, September 15. A small green caterpillar on nettle, with only three pairs of mid-abdominal prolegs has to be Hypena sp.  [Added later:  The adult moth emerged on September 30 (see October 1 posting) and it turned out to be H. californica.]

Hypena californica (Lep.: Erebidae – Hypeninae)   Jeremy Tatum

Cheryl Hoyle sends photographs of a hover fly and a Yellow Woolly Bear caterpillar from View Royal, September 14.

Hover fly Syrphus sp. (Dip.: Syrphidae)  Cheryl Hoyle

Hover fly Syrphus sp. (Dip.: Syrphidae)  Cheryl Hoyle

Yellow Woolly Bear Spilosoma virginica (Lep.: Erebidae – Arctiinae) Cheryl Hoyle

2022 September 14

    Jeff Gaskin writes: Today, September 14, I found three  Woodland Skippers in the community garden at Gorge Park.  I heard from Geoffrey Newell today about some nice butterflies he found on September 9.  First of all he saw a Mourning Cloak at Esquimalt Lagoon and then he saw three Pine Whites at Witty’s Lagoon.

  Here is a harvestman, photographed by Ian Cooper and kindly identified for us by Dr Philip Bragg:

Leptobunus parvulus (Opiliones: Phalangiidae)  Ian Cooper

Leptobunus parvulus (Opiliones: Phalangiidae)  Ian Cooper

   Ian Cooper photographed a Drone Fly Eristalis tenax at Colquitz River Park, September  8.  Viewers might like to compare it with the somewhat similar E. arbustorum, shown on August 24 evening.

Eristalis tenax (Dip.: Syrphidae) Ian Cooper

   Ian photographed a male and a female Common (European) Earwig.  Note the shape of the pincers.

Male Common Earwig Forficula auricularia (Derm.: Forficulidae)  Ian Cooper

emale Common Earwig Forficula auricularia (Derm.: Forficulidae)  Ian Cooper

   Ian also photographed this Triangle Spider in Colquitz River Park, September 10:

Hyptiotes gertschi  (Ara.:  Uloboridae)  Ian Cooper

       Also an unidentified geometrid caterpillar:

Unknown geometrid caterpillar (Lep.: Geometridae)  Ian Cooper

2022 September 13

    Jeremy Tatum shows a photograph of a mayfly seen today near his Saanich apartment.

Specklewing Mayfly  Callibaetis ferrrugineus (Eph.: Baetidae)

Jeremy Tatum

Rosemary Jorna photographed this dragonfly at Sooke Potholes on September 12.  Dr Rob Cannings writes to Rosemary:

The Variable Darner lives up to its name and the lateral thoracic stripes vary from being divided into spots (in BC mainly west of the Coast Mountains and in eastern North America – thus the name “interrupta”) to very thin lines, mainly in the BC  Interior and on the Great Plains. In females especially, even on the Coast, the stripes can be undivided and rather broad, as in your specimen, but are almost always not parallel-sided as they are in A. palmata and A. umbrosa. The black line on the face (as distinct from some species such as A. canadensis, which has a pale brown line) is also a useful field mark.

So what you have is a female Variable Darner  Aeshna interrupta . It’s the yellow form – they also come in a less common blue form, coloured more like the males.

Variable Darner Aeshna interrupta (Odo.: Aeshnidae) Rosemary Jorna

Variable Darner Aeshna interrupta (Odo.: Aeshnidae) Rosemary Jorna

Jeff Gaskin writes:  Here is a list of dragonflies I saw today, September 13, at Swan Lake:

2 Blue Dashers,  4 Blue-eyed Darners, and 1 Paddle-tailed Darner.

I only saw the odd Cabbage White at Swan Lake today, nothing else.

Marie O’Shaughnessy sends several more photographs of dragonflies:

Female Blue Dasher Pachydiplax longipennis (Odo.: Libellulidae)

  Marie O’Shaughnessy

Male Blue Dasher Pachydiplax longipennis (Odo.: Libellulidae)

Marie O’Shaughnessy

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

Marie O’Shaughnessy

Eight-spotted Skimmer Libellula forensis (Odo.:  Libellulidae)

Marie O’Shaughnessy

Male Shadow Darner Aeshna umbrosa (Odo.: Aeshnidae)

Marie O’Shaughnessy

Val George writes: This deceased Large Yellow Underwing  Noctua pronuba was on the ground by my front door this morning, September 13. It afforded me the opportunity to show its yellow hindwings, which are rarely apparent in photos of live specimens.

Large Yellow Underwing Noctua pronuba (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Val George