Last weekend I took an extra day off work to spend three nights mothing in Pemberton, BC. It’s only a 2 hour drive from where I live, so until now, I’ve just driven through, figuring I wouldn’t pick up anything new. Those suspicions held up: zero new moths, alas. It was still a lovely trip, but… kind of a frickin’ train wreck.

Drama! [jazz hands]

It all started Thursday night when my car battery died while setting up light traps in grizzly country, maybe 50 minutes west of Pemberton. Fabulous. Dusk was settling in and I couldn’t remember when I last had reception. Thankfully I had a fresh new bear mace canister on hand and I’d seen my first mountain goat just minutes before, so my optimism hadn’t yet faded. (How young and naive I was back then). After a 10k hike back along the forest service road in the pitch black, followed by a hitchhike with a drunk driver (no judging – thanks for the ride!), I managed to get back into cellphone range, where I learned Pemberton didn’t have a taxi service. Well, that figures. Luckily an exceedingly kind young girl from my hotel offered to come pick me up. Bless her. Pity is an underrated commodity. I’m certainly not above playing the bumbling, confused old British guy when the situation requires.

So yeah, the evening could have definitely gone a lot worse. But moths? Total bust.

Friday morning was spent figuring out how to get the car and acquire and install a new battery. But by early afternoon I was back in action. Probably out of sheer bloody-mindedness, I returned to the scene of the crime that night and set up nets at the same spot. In the morning, I was left disappointed. I’d set up most the nets at higher elevations, which was a mistake. It was -1 or -2 when I arrived: very few moths. The two nets I’d set up lower down the mountain were more successful, but nothing terribly exciting to report other than a few new year moths.

I did find an excellent spot for Saturday night: the Lillooet River road, which is a short, unpaved road (4×4 strongly recommended) running under the pylons, far east of Mount Currie right before heading up the mountain toward Joffrey Lakes. Great spot, full of life. I saw a few year birds on Saturday while checking out the location (Nashville warbler, Osprey, Cassin’s vireo, Lincoln’s sparrow) and picked up all sorts of interesting insects. Unfortunately, that also included picking up several ticks, one of which decided my arm would make a splendid meal. While heading back to the car to sort that out, I managed to fall and twist my ankle. This is all going so very well. My ankle’s been an ongoing issue for years and I’ve finally arranged for physio starting June. At this stage, lopping it off and installing a wheel in its stead feels like my best option.

Anyway, Sunday, after emptying the nets I decided to head home early in case I somehow contracted the plague or a meteorite hit my car. God had clearly hit the “smite” button (hell, it was probably my turn) so I was anxious to get back, have a shower and climb into bed. Unfortunately, a chap at the ferry terminal had chosen that moment to grab a knife and stage a suicide attempt on the ferry (no joke), so the police had to shut down the entire Horseshoe Bay terminal for 7 hours while they tried to talk him down. Boy I don’t envy them their jobs. So I sat in the car watching my fellow travellers experience the five stages of grief and plugged my way through my iNat pictures. I’m happy to say it all ended well, however: the police tackled and disarmed him, and with a bit of luck he’s now getting the help he needs.

Finally I was able to return home. Thank heavens the weekend was over.

Uhhh, could this post be a little “mothier” please?

Fair point, let’s talk moths.

I saw 58 leps in total. Pretty low number, but it’s still early in the year and the weather was colder, longer than other years I recall. The highlight was seeing no less than five Orthosia pulchella. I’ve only seen two in my life before, so it was treat to see so many and examine their different appearances (see images below). As the etymology of their name “pulchella” implies, they really are quite beautiful. Subtle. One I saw west of Pemberton up in higher altitude (one of the few moths I saw up there); the other four I saw down low on Sunday morning near Mount Currie.

The Mount Currie location was by far the best of the weekend; I pulled hundreds of moths from the nets. Huge numbers of Egira simplex and Acerra normalis in particular. I’ve been seeing a particularly large number of normalis on Bowen this year. Irruption year, perhaps? I don’t recall seeing so many before.

Other common moths from the weekend were Orthosia hibisci, Egira curialis and rubrica, Pleromelloida conserta, Feralia comstocki and Gluphisia severa. I’ve seen curialis many a time, but the different forms still trip me up and I never think of them at first. The mottled grey-and-white form makes me think of a tubular Acronicta perdita, and the more purplish hued variety makes me think Polia. Maybe I’m nuts but there you have it.

One callout: Lycia ursaria was good to see. I recall initially mistaking that for a stocky Panthea virginarius when I first saw it in Fort St John. But it’s hard to mis-ID once you know it.

But that’s pretty much it! And so ends the first mothing trip I’ve ever taken where I didn’t pick up a single new species. I fear it won’t be the last…