The morning began with John spending about 40 minutes at the picnic grounds giving us a lively lecture and summary of his knowledge about butterflies and moths as well as the preferred host plants of the often seen and rarely seen butterfly species in our part of Virginia. He had excellent enlarged photos of species we might see and some resource materials such as field guides. John highly recommended the book A Swift Guide to Butterflies of North America (second edition) by Jeffrey Glassburg. He also showed us detailed information sheets for specific species available from butterfliesandmoths.org which show things like life history, caterpillar host plants, adult foods, habitats and range in North America.
We then proceeded on our hike around the north shore of Braley Pond and up the trail to stop at two wildlife meadows and places in between with some blooming wildflowers. The weather was a mix of clouds and sunshine, so adequate for spotting butterflies and moths, but not ideal. We saw several Silver Spotted Skippers and a Clearwing Hummingbird Moth on bergamot in first meadow, and John also found a Clearwing Hummingbird Moth in the grass which allowed him to let it perch on his thumb for us. A few species of black swallowtails also appeared on thistle blossoms.
At the pond in the second clearing, which was created by the Forest Service, John pointed out that the site was excellent for Spotted Salamanders which could be seen in late March and April.
The exciting find at the small pond was a type of Saddleback Caterpillar moth that was brownish orange. It stayed quite still while we photographed it.
On the way back to Braley Pond the clouds were slowly on the increase so not as many butterflies were out. We took the trail on the opposite side of the pond from our morning route and were rewarded with the sight of some brilliant Cardinal Flowers and a great view of the pond and Shenandoah Mountain in the distance from on top of the dam. Our timing proved to be good since a thunderstorm was approaching soon after we left for home.
I highly recommend both Braley Pond and especially taking any chance you get to go on an outing with John Holden.
– by Malcolm Cameron
