Just guessing

I mentioned a caterpillar bed. I didn't see the actual caterpillars, just their bedrolls, presumably occupied.

Leafroller caterpillar's bed. This guy's been eating his sleeping bag.

Another, sheltering a tidier sleeper.

A Google image search suggested that these tubes are made by the larva of the dogwood leaf roller moth, Acleris cornana. Always iffy, these Google results, even when I specify the location. iNaturalist gives a whole list of suggestions; among them are moths of this same family, the Tortricids. And there are two records of Acleris cornana here on the island.

The leaves were well above my head, out of reach, so I couldn't open them. The shrub was the Red Osier Dogwood, Cornus sericea.

More leaves above my head.

Still busy; back to "normal" tomorrow.

Colourful

Not much to see, I said. Fog and rain and half-hidden trees. Grey overhead, dark shadows around me. Not much to look at.

I was mistaken. As long as I was driving, eyes mostly on the road ahead, trees sliding by in the mist, I was really half blind. To see more, you have to slow down. Better still, stop.

I was eating my lunch beside the logging road turnoff (cold boiled eggs, pepperoni, cucumber with chili powder and lime juice, lukewarm coffee) and looking through the windshield. A typical roadside forest, logged off, torn up by road builders, weedy. But look! On this dim, grey day, look at all the colours! Warm, cheerful colours!

The view from my driver's seat.

It was barely raining now, a mere sprinkle. I wrapped the camera in plastic and went colour shopping.

Yellow-green moss, purplish dead leaves.

Dead bracken ferns; freezing brings out the bright red colour.

Creamy lichen (witches' hair?) dangling from cedar branches.

Salal stays bright green all winter.

Red osier dogwood.

A closer look. Pink, almost magenta in spots.

Broken stick having a bad hair day.

An dark chocolatey, almost black seed pod of Scotch broom.

There's more; more colours, more shapes, a bunch of lichens. For tomorrow.

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No hay gran cosa para ver, dije. Neblina y lluvia y árboles medio escondidos. Arriba, cielo gris, alrededor, sombras. Nada que te llama la atención.

Me equivocaba. Mientras seguía manejando, con los ojos fijos en el camino, viendo los árboles a ambos lados deslizándose entre nubes, estaba en realidad medio ciega. Para ver las cosas como se debe, hay que ir despacito. O mejor, pararte.

Mientras comía mi almuerzo en la entrada al camino de madereros — huevos hervidos frios, choricitos de pepperoni, pepino con chile en polvo y jugo de limón, café tibio —  miraba la vista en frente de mi parabrisas. Un bosque típico de los que se ven al lado del camino; los árboles maduros ya cosechados, la tierra revuelta por los constructores de caminos, hierbas invasivas ... Pero, ¡mira! En este dia oscuro y gris, ¡mira todos los colores! ¡Colores cálidos, alegres!

Apenas llovía ya. Envolví la cámara en plástico y fui a buscar colores.

1. La vista desde mi parabrisas.
2. Musgos verde/amarillo, con hojas muertas con un tinte de color morado.
3. Helechos águila, Pteridium aquilinum, muertos. Al congelarse, se vuelven de este color rojo tabique.
4. Un liquen color crema, probablemente "cabello de bruja", Alectoria sarmentosa, colgado de las ramas de un cedro rojo.
5. El salal, Gualtheria shallon, se mantiene verde brillante todo el invierno.
6. Cornus stolonifera.
7. Unas de las ramas con sus botones. Los tallos siempre son rojos, pero el color es más intenso después de una helada.
8. Un palo roto que parece que sufre de un dia de pelo alborotado.
9. Una vaina de las semillas de retama negra. De color de chocolate oscuro, casi negro.

Hay más; otros colores, otras formas, un montoncito de líquenes. Lo dejo para mañana.

Two white-flowered shrubs

Mock orange, Philadelphus lewisii, is a native species, growing mostly around here on well-drained, sunny slopes. It can grow to about 3 metres tall, produces a generous crop of fragrant white flowers, a shiny, gleaming white. According to E-Flora's map, it grows through Oregon and Washington, and along the southern border of BC. On their map, the most northerly report is from an hour's drive south of me.

The one growing under my kitchen window is a designer variant. This one is a dwarf, and after three years has stayed at about 1/2 metre tall. Nor is it as fragrant as the wild variety.

Double flowers; the wild ones have single flowers.

Flowers and buds.

And up on the wet hillside, Red Osier dogwood, Cornus sericea, grows wild and tall. It's another native, a water-loving plant that grows abundantly from California to Alaska. It's an important winter forage plant for deer, and further north, moose and elk.

Flower head and heavily-veined leaves.

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El mock-orange, un arbusto con flores parecidas a las del naranjo, es una planta nativa, creciendo sobre todo en tierras con buen drenaje, bien asoleadas, desde la frontera de California hasta el sur de Colombia Británica. En el mapa de E-Flora, el reporte más al norte es de unos 100 k. al sur de Campbell River.

Es un arbusto que crece hasta más o menos 3 m. de altura, con abundantes flores aromáticas, de un blanco resplendente.

La planta que crece bajo la ventana de mi cocina es una variedad cultivada, miniaturizada. Apenas, después de cuatro años, mide medio metro; no creo que va a crecer más. Y las flores no son tan fragrantes, pero por lo menos son dobles; las del arbusto indígeno son simples.

La tercera foto es de un Cornejo sericea, un arbusto de la familia de los Cornejos, Este arbusto está creciendo entre  los bordes del bosquecito en el cerro lodoso atrás de mi casa.

Este es otro nativo, pero mucho más abundante que el Mock-orange; crece desde California hasta Alaska. Por aquí, sirve de comida invernal para los venados. Más al norte, también lo aprovechan los "moose' (Alces alces) y los "elk" (Cervus canadensis, también conocido como Wapiti.)

Good eats, human, beetle, and moose

Continuing with the day trip and random hikes on the way to Gold River:

We were half starved by the time we arrived at Strathcona Park Lodge, on Upper Campbell Lake. Next food source, Gold River, 47 kilometres away on a slow, curvy highway. Lunch is served from 12 to 1 in the lodge; we arrived at 1:05. There was a brief moment of panic, then a girl came out, clearing away dishes, and told us to go ahead; the buffet was still laid out. Good food, friendly people, wonderful view over the lake.

Afterwards, we dawdled on the deck, watching birds and bugs. I looked at the red osier dogwood, reaching up from the ground below.

First, the flowers. White, slightly greenish in the shade, with pale yellow centres and stamens. And what are those brown things?

Red Soldier Beetles, Rhagonycha fulva

They must really have loved that pollen: mostly when I see soldier beetles, they're busy mating. (In the UK, an alternate name is the Hogweed Bonking Beetle.)

Adults feed on aphids, and also eat pollen and nectar. Larvae prey on ground-dwelling invertebrates, such as slugs and snails, and live at the base of long grasses. The adults, which are active between the months of June and August, spend much of their short lives mating and can often be seen in pairs. (Wikipedia)

Food first, love later, when the food's this good!

On the same shrub, the fruits were ripening. No beetles here.

Ripe red osier dogwood fruit. Not exactly edible.

The fruit is bitter, and is mostly seed. My guide book says it's inedible, but then goes on to mention that the interior aboriginal peoples ate them. Here on the coast, they made tea from the bark.

And in the winter, the moose and the deer will relish them.