Short-tailed blue is not resident anywhere near my local patch in Switzerland, either, and until today I'd never even seen one in the country, despite examining dozens of alcetas every year in the forlorn hope I might pick one up. I was therefore thrilled to see at least half a dozen males and a female today at a site I visit regularly throughout the year (so I'm sure they don't breed there). They were messing in with alcetas and also zooming around all over the place, so I couldn't count very precisely and it might have been more - they are very similar in flilght. Certainly, it wasn't just one or two - these were tourists on a package tour.
It was probably local conditions and winds that brought these butterflies to me (they do breed in the far west of the country); but given I've never seen them before, and suddenly a whole pile pitch up at once, it does give rise to the hope this is a short-tailed blue year! Now is precisely when migrants are generally seen in England. You've been warned...
Guy
