Fresh lilac blues

The flying season of the Common Blue butterfly, Polyommatus icarus, is coming to an end. The adult generation will die off in the next few weeks and caterpillars will overwinter and pupate in spring to emerge at the beginning of June. The Common Blue has two generations in the south of the UK, but only one in Scotland. In between, a second generation might be attempted depending on weather conditions. These individuals look so fresh I find it difficult to believe they have been around since June.

 Although I have only seen this butterfly rarely in my garden, it is a regular of the local wildlife garden, where there is abundant Bird's Foot Trefoil, the primary larval food plants. I photographed this pair of Common blues there on the 7th of September. The male's upper wings are an iridescent violet-blue (above), while the female has only a dusting of blue scales over brown.

Female Common Blue

Male Common Blue

Big Butterfly Count

In the last few days, I have been carrying out surveys for the Big Butterfly Count. I did a count in my garden (5 sp.), two in a local wildlife garden (5 and 6 sp.) and two in a local cemetery (3 and 6 sp.). Given the weather, mostly cloudy with some sunny spells, I am quite pleased with the results. Their results website is quite good with an interactive map where you can check the results submitted at a local scale or for a particular species (over 10,000 surveys already submitted) here. The following photos illustrate my results.

 A Common Blue male today, feeding on oregano. The male regularly patrolled his territory in the wildlife garden, stopping occasionally to feed.

Gatekeepers were plentiful today. This female rested on a Knapweed plant.

My local cemetery has a thiving population of Speckled Wood. Lots of territorial disputes were going on yesterday.

This Red Admiral took advantage from a brief sunny spell yesterday near a buddleia growing in the local cemetery.

This is the first year I see Small Coppers in the wildlife garden.

A Holly Blue feeding on lavender

A Common Blue female on Oregano.

Two small whites courting, the females abdomen raised meaning 'not interested'.

Two female Small Whites sunbathing.