2017 May 6

   Reminder:  Monthly Butterfly Walk tomorrow.  Meet at the top of Mount Tolmie, 1:00 pm. Sunday May 7.  All welcome.  For details, see the May 4 posting.

Jeremy Tatum writes:  I have been visited by very few moths at my Saanich apartment this year, and I have been feeling neglected.  This morning, however, I was at last favoured with a visit by a moth – the Common Clothes Moth Tineola bisselliella.

Common Clothes Moth Tineola bisselliella (Lep.: Tineidae)

Jeremy Tatum

   I went up Bear Hill today, the centre of the Gypsy Moth infestation, but I didn’t see any in any of its stages. And I saw only one butterfly – a lone Western Spring Azure.

   Ken Vaughan writes:  I went to the Beaver Lake Retriever Ponds today, with high hopes of finding some odes. I did. I believe the first photo is a male Pacific Forktail, and the second is a female, although I’m less sure of it than the first photo.  [Thanks to Rob Cannings, who confirms that this is indeed a teneral female Pacific Forktail.]

Pacific Forktail Ischnura cervula (Odo.: Coenagrionidae)  Ken Vaughan

 Pacific Forktail  Ischnura cervula (Odo.: Coenagrionidae)  Ken Vaughan

Val George writes:  On Thursday, May 4, I was in Tofino.  The 22 ºC weather produced for me the first significant display of butterflies I’ve seen this year:  about a dozen Western Brown Elfins (photo),  2 Western Pine Elfins (photo), a Mourning Cloak, and 3 Cabbage Whites.  On the way home I photographed a White-ribboned Carpet Moth Mesoleuca gratulata at Somenos Marsh in Duncan.

Western Brown Elfin Incisalia iroides (Lep.: Lycaenidae) Val George

 Western Pine Elfin (Lep.: Incisalia eryphon) Val George

Mesoleuca gratulata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Val George