2022 September 8

    Val George sends a photograph of a moth that was on the wall of his Oak Bay house this morning:

Sabulodes aegrotata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Val George

Marie O’Shaughnessy sends a photograph of a caterpillar on the fairway of the Victoria Golf Course yesterday:

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

Marie O’Shaughnessy

   Cheryl Hoyle sends some photographs from View Royal, September 7.

Honey Bee Apis mellifera (Hym.: Apidae)  Cheryl Hoyle

Emmelina monodactyla (Lep.: Pterophoridae)  Cheryl Hoyle

Thanks to Libby Avis for identification of the moth below.

Copper Underwing  Amphipyra pyramidoides (Lep.: Noctuidae)

Cheryl Hoyle

Two spiders from Ian Cooper:

Philodromus dispar (Ara.: Philodromidae)  Ian Cooper

Eratigena (probably duellica) (Ara.: Agelenidae)  Ian Cooper

   Robert Cowan sends a photograph of a dragonfly from Rocky Point, September 5.

White-faced Meadowhawk Sympetrum obtrusum (Odo.: Libellulidae)

Robert Gowan

2022 September 7 evening

    Bryan Gates writes:  I left a night light on at our outside deck at Saratoga Beach, V.I. (near the Oyster River).  Lots of moths next morning:

Neoalcis californiaria (Lep.: Geometridae)   Bryan Gates

Eulithis xylina (Lep.: Geometridae)  Bryan Gates

Autographa californica (Lep.: Noctuidae – Plusiinae)   Bryan Gates

Jeff Gaskin writes:  found  2 Lorquin’s Admirals at Swan lake today,  September 7, with one being at the parking lot and the other by the small foot bridge by Highway 17. I also did well with dragonflies at the lake today, September 7.  I had three darner species with several being Blue-eyed Darners, a few Paddle-tailed Darners, 2 Common Green Darners, 2 Eight Spotted Skimmers, and 3 Blue Dashers.

At Blenkinsop Lake today I saw at least five Blue-eyed Darners, and 1 Paddle-tailed Darner.

And Jeff adds later:    I found another  Lorquin’s Admiral from my mother’s backyard in the Gorge/Burnside neighbourhood this afternoon

2022 September 7 morning

   Marie O’Shaughnessy writes:  A friend and I were delighted to find a few hovering dragonflies at McIntyre Reservoir yesterday afternoon.  We saw a Common Green Darner. The majority of the dragonflies seen were Paddle-tailed Darners,  and  three Black Saddlebags. Also saw only one  Eight-Spotted Skimmer.

Paddle-tailed Darner Aeshna palmata (Odo.: Aeshnidae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy

Paddle-tailed Darner Aeshna palmata (Odo.: Aeshnidae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy

Eight-spotted Skimmer Libellula forensis (Odo.: Libellulidae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy

Black Saddlebags Tramea lacerata (Odo.: Libellulidae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy

   Jochen Möhr writes from Metchosin:  Last night three Neoalcis californiaria and at least five Udea profundalis.  I took only one picture of one of the latter.   In addition a Synaxis jubararia and an Alucita montana.  

Alucita montana (Lep.: Alucitidae)  Jochen Möhr

Udea profundalis (Lep.: Crambidae)  Jochen Möhr

Tetracis jubararia (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Two caterpillar pictures from Jeremy  Tatum. The first from Rithet’s Bog; the second from Swan Lake.

Yellow Woolly Bear Spilosoma virginica  (Lep.: Erebidae – Arctiinae)  Jeremy Tatum

Eyed Hawk Moth Smerinthus ophthalmica (Lep.: Sphingidae) Jeremy Tatum

2022 September 6

    Marie O’Shaughnessy photographed this Ringlet at Island View Beach on September 5.  There were still many Woodland Skippers there nectaring on Douglas Aster.

Ringlet Coenonympha tullia (Lep.: Nymphalidae – Satyrinae) 

Marie O’Shaughnessy

   Kirsten Mills saw a Lorquin’s Admiral at Victoria airport this afternoon, September 6.

   Cabbage Whites and Woodland Skippers are still being seen in various locations.

   Jeff Gaskin reports a Paddle-tailed Darner, a Black Saddlebags and a Common Green Darner from Esquimalt Gorge Park today.

2022 September 5 evening

 Colias alert!

   Jeff Gaskin and Kirsten Mills saw an Orange Sulphur on the trail off the end of Lochmanetz Road at Cowichan Bay. The only other butterflies we saw were Cabbage Whites and the odd Woodland Skipper.   Also, Jeff saw a Common Green Darner at the end of Dock Road.  [Jeremy Tatum writes:  As every dragonfly-watcher knows, the Common Green Darner, one of our larger and more spectacular dragonflies, isn’t all that common!]

   Richard Rycraft saw this moth in his house on September 3.  Kindly identified by Libby Avis as Caradrina montana.  According to the Pacific NW website, this moth is common, widespread and nearly ubiquitous in the Pacific Northwest.  Jeremy Tatum writes:  That may well be so – but I have never seen one!  It has appeared only once before on this site – in 2018.

Caradrina montana (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Richard Rycraft

   Ian Cooper has been photographing, in View Royal, a number of interesting creatures with which not all of us are very familiar.

  We don’t know for sure what the bug below is, but it may be a Damsel Bug of the Family Nabidae – possibly even the genus Nabis.  This is a predaceous bug, preying on other insects rather than sucking plant juices.

Possibly Nabis (Hem.: Nabidae)  Ian Cooper

Possibly Nabis (Hem.: Nabidae)  Ian Cooper

   Next is a wingless ichneumonid, probably Gelis.  It is believed to be a hyperparasitoid – that is to say it parasitises other parasitoid insects, such as the Braconidae.

Probably Gelis (Hym.: Ichneumonidae)  Ian Cooper

   Next may be an immature (nymph) pentatomid bug:

Probably a nymph of a stink bug (Hem.: Pentatomidae)  Ian Cooper

Springtail, Orchesella villosa (Coll.: Orchesellidae) Ian Cooper

   More familiar is the spider Araneus diademadus, although the photographs below show the less familiar male:

Araneus diadematus (Ara.: Araneidae)  Ian Cooper

Araneus diadematus (Ara.: Araneidae)  Ian Cooper