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Large Blue - Favourite Photo 2019

Week 8

Happy Advent everyone and we are now on the countdown until the obese man in the red suit makes his annual visit!

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

I thought I'd missed the boat with Large Blue's this year but I decided to catch up with a few oldies in the middle of July. There were still a good few worn ones around so it was worth the trip but my fav pics come from the afternoon after had a bite to eat from the Inn when I stumbled across a very late freshly minted female When she opened her wings in subdued light the colour was sublime!

I always manage to combine the Large Blues at Collard Hill with a visit to an old school chum in Taunton. This year I thought I'd make it easier and stay in a hotel in Glastonbury overnight to enable an early start and a long day in the field. The night I had unthinkingly chosen was the one before the solstice, which meant I shared the hotel with a large number of folk planning to rise even earlier than me so they could see the midsummer sun rise from up on the Tor...
On the evening of my arrival, I had just enough time to spend an hour up at Collard despite heavy showers not long before. I managed to find one or two roosting Large Blues, and just as I was about to call it a day, a male opened a little in the lowering sun.The following day had better weather, but luckily not so much sunshine that the butterflies kept their wings shut. It was another of those very sociable days, with many folk to chat to from all over the country and an excellent NT guide supplying information to the uninitiated. There were also many opportunities to photograph reasonably fresh butterflies with their wings open.A great day.

Dave

I see a decent number of Large Blues on the continent every year, but they are far harder to capture with their wings open due to it being predominantly hot and sunny in more southerly climes!!

Here's one from Italy in mid-June:

Following up on David's post, I also see quite a few Large Blues, usually at altitude, and I rarely get to see the upperside. So I was delighted to see this one in the Pyrenees at around 1600m which was quite sedentary (maybe just emerged - it looked perfectly fresh) but opened its wings in a cloudy spell.

It is more heavily marked than lowland Large Blues, a usual altitude effect.

Roger

I caught up with Large Blues this year when we stayed for for a couple of nights not far from Daneway Banks on the way back from our trip to the Heddon Valley.

The afternoon of our arrival was cool and cloudy which enabled me to get a couple of open wing shots...
...but the following day was hot and sunny from the start and the Large Blues were only settling with their wings closed and soon went into hiding from the sun.
Nevertheless, during a couple of hours in the morning I saw a couple of mating pairs...
...and returned later in the afternoon when I found another pair.
Cheers,

Neil

My offering is an egg, laid on 1st July by the side of a mountain track where thyme grows abundantly:



I know it's a large blue egg because I watched the proud mum laying it:



If all went well, the caterpillar should now be deep underground - indeed, deep under the snow - tucked up in an ants' nest, waiting for things to thaw out again in the spring.

Guy

I'm thoroughly enjoying seeing some lovely photos of Large blues here whilst enduring stormy December.
It reminded me just how variable this butterfly is, both regionally, but also within an individual population. I have attached a photo which I took on 15th July 2019 on Daneway Banks which would not be out of place in a montane habitat in Southern Europe similar to the one posted by Roger.

David Simcox wrote: ↑Mon Dec 09, 2019 4:09 pm..I have attached a photo which I took on 15th July 2019 on Daneway Banks which would not be out of place in a montane habitat in Southern Europe similar to the one posted by Roger.

Indeed, Dave. I've never seen a home grown arion as dusky as that. Wonderful specimen.

Large Blue

My Fave Large Blue came from my annual trip to Daneways with Philzoid. It was a cracking day with a mating pair, and various Large Blues across the site. My choice however was the final one that we found in the top field of the site. This butterfly made it to the Fave because it was the best behaved butterfly of the day – it just sat there, wings open posing/basking and then when it had had enough it would fly only a short way and repeat the whole procedure.
Have a goodun

Wurzel

Not strictly Large Blue, but the same genus - Maculinea alcon eggs, at a site in Brittany this September. This must be the easiest of the European butterflies to find in the early stages, as the highly visible eggs pepper all the available foodplant. It is probably fortunate for the plant that only the very early instars feed upon it...

Matsukaze wrote: ↑Sun Dec 15, 2019 10:38 pm Not strictly Large Blue, but the same genus - Maculinea alcon eggs, at a site in Brittany this September. This must be the easiest of the European butterflies to find in the early stages, as the highly visible eggs pepper all the available foodplant. It is probably fortunate for the plant that only the very early instars feed upon it..

Agreed, Chris. Likewise with Mountain Alcon Blue, whose eggs you can easily find on gentians above 1,200m.

Following Chris' lead, chancing upon alcon was one of the highlights of my July.

Here is a Marsh Gentian (Gentiana pneumonanthe) peppered with alcon eggs. Unusual in that the Gentian is not in flower even on 25 July. And here is the female that was laying the eggs, taking a rest in the shade.