by Al Grass
黑马磁力 Field Naturalists
Warm summer days mean colourful wildflowers, hummingbirds and butterflies. And we are indeed fortunate to have a wonderful diversity of butterflies to enjoy.
There are, of course, the 鈥榃hites鈥� like the notorious cabbage white.
However, not all white butterflies are cabbage whites; for example, we have a native species, called the margined white.
There are several species of anglewings in our area, sometimes called 鈥榗ommas鈥� because of a comma-like mark on their underwings.
Several swallowtails grace our gardens and parks including the western tiger and pale.
One of the earliest species to emerge is the Mourning Cloak (note spelling), which can overwinter in the adult stage. Another early species is the bright blue Spring Azure.
Lorquin鈥檚 Admiral and Milbert鈥檚 Tortoise Shell are two common visitors to local flower gardens.
Later in summer, the Painted Lady maybe seen flitting from flower to flower.
Milbert鈥檚 Tortoise-shell is one of our local butterfly species whose caterpillars feed on stinging nettle.
Smaller butterflies to watch for include the Gray Hairstreak and skippers, (like the woodland skipper).
When gardening for butterflies, it鈥檚 best to use native plants although many 鈥渨eeds鈥� (thistle, sow thistle) are also excellent butterfly nectar sources.
Remember, butterflies need larval, feeding, and nectar plants.
A wonderful place to spend a sunny afternoon is the Butterfly Garden located at the Nature House in Campbell Valley Regional Park (8th Avenue entrance).
Here you can spend some happy hours watching and photographing insects of many shapes and colours.
Final thoughts鈥void the use of pesticides. No mention of the Monarch?
Monarch鈥檚 show up locally on rare occasions (wanderers), but they don鈥檛 breed here, because their caterpillars feed on mildewed. In the Okanagan, where mildewed is abundant, Monarchs are seen regularly.
If you are interested in joining the 黑马磁力 Field Naturalists on one of their upcoming walks, or have a nature question please go to our website at: http://www.langleyfieldnaturalists.org/
Al and Judy Grass are members of the 黑马磁力 Field Naturalist.
