2023 August 4 evening

   Jeff Gaskin writes:  Today, August 4th, Kirsten Mills and I made a trip to the Cowichan Valley.  Along the Dinsdale farm dyke by Cowichan Bay we counted no fewer than 7 Purplish Coppers and also found there a rather late Western Tiger Swallowtail.  My last Western Tiger Swallowtail for Victoria so far is on the 2nd of August in Cuthbert Holmes Park.  I still haven’t seen a Lorquin’s Admiral anywhere this month (August).  [Jeremy Tatum writes:  I haven’t seen any swallowtail or a Lorquin’s Admiral for several days, either, nor has Invert Alert received any recent reports.]

Jeff continues: We also saw a Grey Hairstreak near the parking area at the Blackly Dyke, Cowichan Bay.

2023 August 4 morning

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  This moth was on the wall of my Saanich apartment building this morning:

Zale lunata (Lep.: Erebidae – Erebinae)  Jeremy Tatum

2023 August 3

   Marie O’Shaughnessy photographed a number of exuviae (cast skins) of emerging dragonflies and damselflies in the Cowichan Valley on August 1.  Accurate identification of exuviae from photographs is a bit of a challenge, but Dr Rob Cannings suggests that the damselflies are probably Enallagma annexum or boreale, and the dragonfly is probably Rhionaeschna multicolor.

  Enallagma annexum/boreale  (Odo.: Coenagrionidae)
Marie O’Shaughnessy

Probably Enallagma annexum/boreale  (Odo.: Coenagrionidae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy

Probably Enallagma annexum/boreale  (Odo.: Coenagrionidae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy

Probably Enallagma annexum/boreale  (Odo.: Coenagrionidae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy

Probably Rhionaeschna multicolor  (Odo.: Aeshnidae)
Marie O’Shaughnessy

Cheryl Hoyle photographed this Shadow Darner at Esquimalt Lagoon, August 2:

Shadow Darner Aeshna umbrosa (Odo.: Aeshnidae)  Cheryl Hoyle

Jeremy Tatum writes: There were one Painted Lady  and one Red Admiral on the Mount Tolmie reservoir at 5:30 today, August 3.

2023 August 2

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  At 5:30 pm today, there were two Red Admirals and one Painted Lady on the Mount Tolmie reservoir.

2023 August 1 evening

   Jochen Möhr writes from Metchosin:  At William Head Road, we continue to have at least one resident Lorquin’s Admiral, and several transient swallowtails and Cabbage Whites.  I also saw my first Woodland Skipper – but only briefly. Other than that, I can offer the picture of a dragonfly, which kindly settled on the house for a few seconds.

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

Aziza Cooper writes:  Today, August 1, at Pedder Bay, there was one Pine White, one Cabbage White and two Woodland Skippers.

But at Swan Lake, writes Jeremy Tatum, the Woodland Skippers were too many to count!