2018 June 3

 

   Aziza Cooper reports that yesterday evening Mount Tolmie at about 6pm had five Painted Ladies, one Pale Tiger Swallowtail, two Lorquin’s Admirals and one Grey Hairstreak.   Aziza also sends a photograph of a caterpillar of a Silver-spotted Tiger Moth crossing the road in Mill Bay.  I think we all know why it was crossing the road.

 

Silver-spotted Tiger Moth Lophocampa argentata (Lep.: Erebidae – Arctiinae)  Aziza Cooper

 

   The June Butterfly Walk was scheduled for 1:00 p.m. today – at which time it was totally overcast and raining.  However, so as not to write off the day completely, Gordon and Anne-Marie Hart and Jeremy Tatum decided to walk along the Lochside trail from Lohbrunner’s to Blenkinsop Lake to see if we could find any caterpillars of the Red Admiral or the Satyr Comma on the nettles.  We didn’t find any, though we did find a few unidentified tortricid caterpillars (which Jeremy will try to rear and identify).   We also found a caterpillar and a pupa of the White Satin Moth.  The extraordinarily hairy pupa of the latter is shown below.  Considerng the circumstances, some limited birdwatching was permitted, and we saw or heard Bewick’s, House and Marsh Wrens, Black-headed Grosbeaks, and Wood Ducks with ducklings.

 

White Satin Moth Leucoma salicis (Lep.: Erebidae – Lymantriinae)  Jeremy Tatum