www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Silver-studded Blue - Favourite Photo of 2023

Week 15

This time last year I wrote about incessant rain and freezing temperatures…sounds a little like déjà vu…(cue Monty Python sketch). Also a little like déjà vu is that fact that a hard storm is due to/has started to slam us again . So batten down the hatches and select your Favourites in the comfort and safety of your home.

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

Silver-studded Blue

My favourite shot for this species came, as it often does, from one of my favourite named sites – Slop Bog. I was spoilt for choice this year as I had pristine males and females, pairs in cop as well as a nice variety of differently marked females. It was from this final batch that I chose my Favourites. Less showy than the males the females make up for their lack of obvious ornamentation in more subtle terms. This one stuck out as she had a deep chocolate brown ground colour set off beautifully by bright white fringes and on the hind wings a stunning sets of eyes that wouldn’t have looked out of place on a brown Peacock!
Have a goodun

Wurzel

The Surrey Heathlands do provide a choice of sites for this lovely little species, and my favourites usually come from Fairmile Common in June. However, a visit slightly later to Chobham Common in early July provided a whole variety of females, of which this is my preferred example.There was a typical pairing of a worn male and new female......and a male with a distinct violet tinge in the shining blue. Dave

Just the one day spent with these last year, at Fairmile Common, where numbers had picked up a bit from the previous year. I came across one female going about the business of making sure some will be there in a few months time.

I normally see Silver-studded blue at the coastal sites in North Cornwall. However, last June I visited a Norfolk site when the season was just starting. Only males but very fresh.

Wolfson wrote: ↑Mon Jan 22, 2024 6:51 pm...Only males but very fresh.

Not half, Wolfson. An absolute gem!

These photos are all from a small heathland site near Esher. The first is from the beginning of the season - our first sighting of the year, and indeed the only one we saw on that visit.
A couple of weeks later, when numbers had built up a bit, another very smart male was perched nicely.
Whilst this beautifully fresh female was mating with a rather more worn male - they were at an angle which made it difficult to get both in focus, so I concentrated on the more photogenic of the pair.

Only one site for these in south Wales, at the army firing ranges near Bosherston, Pembrokeshire.

It's a lovely area and the weather on midsummer's day was near perfect: