2017 April 14

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  Until this morning I hadn’t had a moth of any sort – macro or micro – at my Saanich apartment rear door since February 14.  The blank stretch was broken this morning by the moth shown below. 

Egira curialis (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jeremy Tatum

   And the only butterfly I had seen this year was a fleeting glimpse of a Cabbage White on April 1 – but today I saw 2 Cabbage Whites at Panama Flats.  Also at Panama Flats, a Banded Woolly Bear (caterpillar of the Isabella Moth).  We usually see these a-plenty at Panama Flats in October.  They overwinter as full-grown caterpillars, and are seen again in early spring.

   Bill Katz identified a couple of nice geometrids at Goldstream this morning:

Thallophaga hyperborea (Lep.: Geometridae)  Bill Katz

 Melanolophia imitata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Bill Katz

   Rebecca Reader-Lee found these snail eggs under some moss while she was gardening at her home in the North Highlands today.  Does anyone dare to identify them?  They certainly look a lot like Cornu aspersum – but I dare say many snail eggs look quite similar.

Snail eggs    Rebecca Reader-Lee