2016 February 21

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  Yesterday (February 20) I noticed a pretty geometrid moth near one of the lights at the front door of the Swan Lake Nature reserve.  I wasn’t sure what it was, but birdwatchers Warren Lee and Cathy Reader, armed with cameras, came to the rescue.  Warren climbed up precariously on a ladder kindly provided by the Swan Lake staff, and managed to get the picture shown below.  It is one of the earliest of the moths to appear at the beginning of the year, the Winter Oak Highflier Hydriomena nubilofasciata (that’s twelve syllables!).  Its caterpillar feeds on the leaves of Garry Oak.