2018 May 3 evening

 

   Message from Gordon Hart – May Butterfly Walk

 

Hello Butterfly Watchers,

Our second walk of the year will be this Sunday, May 6. We meet at the top of Mount Tolmie, by the reservoir, at 1.00 p.m. You can park in the parking lot there, or in the large lot north of the summit. After a look around the summit, and depending on the weather, we will decide on a destination from there. 

See you on Sunday,

Gordon Hart

Victoria Natural History Society

 

 

Jeremy Tatum adds:  As Gordon points out, as usual we decide on a destination when we meet on Mount Tolmie – so give it a moment’s thought, and if you have any suggestions, don’t be shy about sharing them when we meet!

 

Western Spring Azures Celastrina echo (Lep.:  Lycaenidae)  Gordon Hart

 

   Apparently we don’t have to go out into the wilderness to see butterflies.  This morning’s posting showed a Western Brown Elfin near the Royal Jubilee Hospital.  Now Annie Pang comes up with an unexpectedly early Cedar Hairstreak in Gorge Park yesterday, May 2.  A “lifer” for Annie!

 

Cedar Hairstreak Mitoura rosneri (Lep.: Lycaenidae) Annie Pang

 

   Jeremy Tatum writes that at 6:15 pm this evening (May 3) there were two California Tortoiseshells and a Red Admiral on the Mount Tolmie reservoir.  So now is the time to look for hilltopping nymphalids there in the late afternoons and early evenings.  The action has started.

 

   Jochen Moehr had a good night two nights ago with his moth trap in Metchosin.   He and Jeremy Tatum are exceedingly grateful to Libby Avis for the identifications – this saves us a huge amount of work.  Jeremy writes:  No one seems to know how to distinguish reliably from photographs between Venusia obsoleta and V. pearsalli so I have written both species names under the photographs.  Egira simplex/crucialis is another difficult pair, though Libby and I both lean towards simplex in Jochen’s photograph below. Libby said she wasn’t 100 percent certain about Apamea cinefacta, though I think she’s almost certainly right, and that’s how I’m going to label it!

Egira simplex (or just possibly crucialis, though we don’t think so) (Lep.: Noctuidae) 

Jochen Moehr

 

Apamea cinefacta (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jochen Moehr

 

Egira rubrica (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jochen Moehr

 

Egira perlubens (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jochen Moehr

 

Perizoma curvilinea (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Moehr

 

Perizoma curvilinea (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Moehr

 

Venusia obsoleta/pearsalli (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Moehr

 

Venusia obsoleta/pearsalli (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Moehr

 

Xanthorhoe defensaria (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Moehr

 

 

Perizoma curvilinea (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Moehr