Small Blue - Favourite Photo 2019

[Wurzel]

Small Blue - Favourite Photo 2019

Week 16

In the words of Red Leader, Garven Dreis: “Almost there…almost there” .

Please could I ask that everyone waits until a topic has been opened by me for a particular species before posting photos as then it will be easier to keep track of things? Of course our overseas members are very welcome to fill in the obvious gaps relating to rare UK migrants. As in previous years details of locations, dates, times and circumstances would be welcome as would any accompanying stories and anecdotes or other observations of behaviour and interesting other points.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[bugboy]

Two images represent my favourite encounter with these guys last year. I found them clustered on a bird dropping but when I settled down to watch them they slowly began to decamp onto my legs, thereby confirming that I (or at least my legs) taste better than bird poo

[Wolfson]

The Small Blue is a real favourite of mine and its apparent spread into East Anglia is great news. My usual encounters are at Totternhoe but this year I was a little early and only had a glimpse of one flying. Fortunately, fellow enthusiast Millerd, kindly offered to take me to a nearby, hopefully earlier site. He was spot on and we were rewarded with plenty of Small Blues including a scene similar to Bugboy's. They were also very "friendly" to the point of interfering with photography. A great day, thank you Dave.

[David M]

Doesn't that last image show how tiny this butterfly is? Great shot, Wolfson.

[MrSp0ck]

It was a similar scene at Hutchinsons Bank, clouds of them. of the 6587 seen in the Uk on transects we had 1417 of those. It was by far the most numerous species on the reserve, how many places can say that, Marbled White was 2nd here are a few shots

[Chris Jackson]

I'm impressed by these large gatherings of Small Blues above.
I've never seen that in the south of France.
Here is my photo for last year from May 18th.

Chris

[David M]

Best day I had with this species was on 12th May, when I saw around 50 at Crymlyn Burrows, east of Swansea:

[Neil Freeman]

No large gatherings of Small Blues for me unfortunately, I only saw this species a few times in 2019.

The first one was at Bishops Hill in Warwickshire where I spotted a single early individual in early May although I failed to get a photo that time.

The next was at Strawberry banks in Gloucestershire in mid May when I spotted a single male squabbling with a couple of Dingy Skippers over the best basking spot.

Small Blue - Strawberry Banks 15.05.2019

I saw greater numbers later that same afternoon at Prestbury Hill where they were very active in the warm sun and then in late June I saw a single individual hanging on at Daneway Banks.

Cheers,

Neil

[Wurzel]

Small Blue

I took my Fave Small Blue photo back in mid-May during a delightful morning with impeccable company on The Hill. It’s my favourite shot as it’s of a mating pair and is easily surpasses the previous representative of this species in my In Cop collection. I also chose it as I had to turn my neck into seemingly impossible angles to get them exactly at right angles and the final results was easily worth the discomfort at the time. Saying that my neck does still ‘click’ at times…

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Matsukaze]

In the French Alps, the Small Blues feed on vanilla-flavoured kidney vetch. Further uphill, they had raspberry ripple flavour to choose from as well.

[Matsukaze]

Small Blue with Mazarine Blue for company - the Small Blue gives the impression of being a spotless aberrant, though I didn't notice this at the time.

[millerd]

The Small Blue is a real favourite of mine and its apparent spread into East Anglia is great news. My usual encounters are at Totternhoe but this year I was a little early and only had a glimpse of one flying. Fortunately, fellow enthusiast Millerd, kindly offered to take me to a nearby, hopefully earlier site. He was spot on and we were rewarded with plenty of Small Blues including a scene similar to Bugboy's. They were also very "friendly" to the point of interfering with photography. A great day, thank you Dave.

Cheers, Wolfson - your post brought back memories of a terrific day. Those Small Blues were settling everywhere, and as your shot shows, they made photographing the others very tricky! Sitting on the shutter button like that is about as awkward as it gets. This is what I was trying to get a view of...

This was Pitstone: I also visited a site nearby for the first time - this was the Bird Reserve at College Lake which nonetheless has a great assortment of butterflies, including a healthy population of Small Blues.

As Mr Sp0ck has mentioned, Hutchinsons Bank was also awash with them, and they would fly up in clouds when disturbed. Other than the concentrations settled on noxious substances, it was difficult to do the numbers full justice in one photo. However, here is an attempt with (I believe) 13 individuals settled on the foliage and many more just out of shot.

Dave