Thank you for the detailed info, Mike. It would seem to be an ab., then.
I didn't really notice in the field, Pauline, so it was sort of spotted after the event...
There definitely seem to be more brown female Common Blues in the second brood than in the first, Goldie.
7th August: I finished work a bit early today, and headed up to Aston Rowant, reaching the hillside around five. Despite sun all around, within ten minutes a large cloud settled itself right over the hill and persisted until I left at seven. In some ways this was an advantage, as it didn't really stop the butterflies from flying, it just slowed them down a bit. However, during the latter part of the visit, the light levels dropped, making good photos harder to come by.
What was flying? There were lots of Chalkhills out, with quite a few females in there as well, though they are hard to spot and follow compared to the males.
Common Blues were also around, though fewer in number than the Chalkhills, and surprisingly I saw just one Brown Argus.
There were also Gatekeepers, Small Skippers, the odd Small Heath and good numbers of quite fresh Meadow Browns (another flush in their protracted emergence).
The stars of course were the Silver-spotted Skippers. This is always a reliable site, and there were lots of them today in every part of the hillside.
Finally, today's bonus was disturbing a female Clouded Yellow from somewhere on the ground. With the sun feeble at best, it didn't take long to settle again.
A first for the year, species no. 45 for 2015.
Dave