2024 October 13

Jeff Gaskin writes:   Today, I saw the following butterflies :  Two Cabbage Whites  one at Tillicum Centre, and one on Nelthorpe Street just north of Swan Lake.  The Painted Lady was still at the top of Christmas Hill on the north summit.  It appeared there at precisely 2:28 p.m.

Kirsten Mills did even better than I did.  Her best butterfly was a Mourning Cloak seen on Mann Avenue in Saanich.  She saw a total of 13 Cabbage Whites from Mann Avenue to Glanford Road then along Mckenzie Avenue to Quadra Street then to the Pat Bay highway and then to McKenzie Avenue to finally North Dairy Road where she lives. On each one of those streets she saw two Cabbage Whites, with the exception of North Dairy Road where she only saw one.

Jeremy Tatum writes:  I saw no Cabbage Whites today, but I saw four Autographa californica moths flying around at McIntyre Reservoir at about 4:00 pm

2024 October 12

Jeff Gaskin writes:   Today was a great day for butterflies.  I found a Painted Lady at the top of Christmas Hill at 2:45 p.m. on the north summit.  The rest of my butterflies were Cabbage Whites but yet I found four of them.  One was along Saanich Road where it meets up with the Lochside trail near Lodge Avenue and the other three were in the Burnside/Gorge community.

Aziza Cooper writes:  On a drive today, coming back from Jordan River, I saw two white butterflies, a Cabbage White along Highway 1 east of Tillicum Road, and one crossing Sooke Road near the traffic light at the town centre. The second one could have been a Pine White, but my view was very brief.

At Jordan River today, Colin Veerkamp told me he saw a Purplish Copper briefly. Val George saw a butterfly which may have been the same one. Colin also told me he saw up to 15 Purplish Coppers at the Cowichan Bay Dock Road “about a month ago”. He had excellent photos.

Jeremy Tatum reports a single Cabbage White at Carey Road today.

Ian Cooper found a full-grown caterpillar of a Peppered Moth in View Royal today.  On being supplied with some sterilized potting soil, the caterpillar promptly buried itself prior to pupation before a photograph could be taken.

2024 October 11

   Aziza Cooper writes:  On October 10 at about 2 pm, there were two Cabbage Whites along McKenzie Road east of Borden Street, seen from my car.  Jeremy Tatum writes: That’s exactly where I saw two, also from my car, the day before.  I wonder if they were the same two.

Are these going to be the last butterflies of the year?  Or are there more to come?

Aziza writes:  On October 7 at the Hawk Lookout near Beechey Head, this beetle flew into a pine bush at the summit.

We thank Scott Gilmore for identifying the beetle as Monochamus clamator, and Aziza for identifying the hand as belonging to Liam Ragan.

Spotted Pine Sawyer  Monochamus clamator  (Col.: Cerambycidae)  Aziza Cooper

2024 October 10

Cabbage Whites haven’t quite disappeared for the year.  Jeff Gaskin saw two today in the Burnside/Gorge neighbourhood.

2024 October 9

No Invertebrate Alert was issued on October 9.

Jeff Gaskin saw one Cabbage White in the Burnside/Gorge community today, and Jeremy Tatum saw two flying over McKenzie Avenue.

Butterflies and dragonflies are becoming scarce now.  Just how late in the year can one see one?  Dr Rob Cannings just sent me a copy of an article (in the journal Argia) written jointly by him and Ian Cruickshank describing a sighting by the latter of a Variegated Meadowhawk on December 27 last year (2023) at Rocky Point Bird Observatory.