I wondered after my answer that based on your location, it could have been a mazarine blue. But the underwing spots are different so I'll stick with holly blue.

Thanks for the comment Wayne but it wasn't a comma. I have loads of commas at my local patch. The following day I got a picture of the underside and there's no way of confusing the two there.

I presume by 'ocelli' you mean eyespots, i.e. the orange spots around the outside edge of the forewings, or maybe the black spots towards the wing median and inner edge? They are there in the common blue. Perhaps your guide means on the upper side of the wings? Here's a nice underside view: http://w...

You moved your feet while snapping?

Nice pics anyway.

Incidently whilst snapping fritllaries today I realised that saying "B***er" when the target flits to another flower after you'd got ready to snap it at a previous one is NOT good practice. They can hear you and will fly away.

Superb looking butterflies aren't they? And not at all uncommon.

Large skipper. Sorry...

Yes

Having now been to the Velvet Bottom reserve as recommended by Markatbath and seen lots of dark green fritillaries I now realise that they aren't as big as I initially thought they were. So my mysterious sighting at Hazelbury was a dark green frit.

Looks like a common blue to me.

Clouded yellows are popping up a lot at present. I got some good snaps of one at Hazelbury. I went to Velvet Bottom today. I parked initially at the Mendip Centre car park and walked down the hill. After walking the length of the reserve and back I had seen two DG Frits, both at the bottom of the re...

Thanks for that Mark. I saw a couple of DGFs at Hazelbury Common today but they weren't in very good condition. I didn't see any of their food plants around so I wonder if they were releases. As for the essex skipper, I got my long awaited spot of this critter at Bannerdown, so they are there. There...

I like the lighting effect on the speckled wood, although Spanish variant colours keep making me make a double take.
Not sure about whether the clouded yellow pic works for me. At least it's the same as the ones we get here.

Sounds like you're on the right track. Look for a tickbox or similar to maintain proportion to avoid having to work out the right h/v pixel count.

In the field you can tell the difference immediately because as Pete has pointed out the brown argus appears silvery when flying. As regards size, I've never seen a common blue as small as a brown argus. The difference is quite marked. But once you have a photo and there's no way of judging size it'...

Do you have a paint program such as photoshop etc? If you don't know, check out the cd supplied with your camera. Most such programs will allow a resize or resample.

I'd be chuffed to get a shot of a DGF like that anyway.

I like shot 2 better, but it's just personal preference. It just goes to show what can be done with a relatively modest camera though doesn't it?
Can I suggest that for display on this board you resize your images before posting to say, 800 x 600, so that they can be displayed on a normal monitor?

This amazingly sorry specimen was spotted lunchtime today, and it could still fly! It was once a ringlet I believe.

I am pretty impressed with the Canon S3 which I bought recently as an upgrade to my Fuji S602Z. The basic macro mode is a waste of time, and the super macro mode, although excellent, requires you to get so close to an insect that it will often be spooked before you can snap it. But the addon Canon 5...

A couple of dozen chalkhills seen today at Hazelbury Common, congregating mainly on the leftmost track parallel to the road and along the bottom. Also one, maybe two dark green fritillaries, and a clouded yellow along the bottom track. And have a wander down to the bottom end and look at the mass of...