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Small Blue - Favourite Photo of 2023

Week 16

The week of diminutive! Perhaps these threads should have a Blink182 soundtrack… . Not long to go now until the finale so I hope you’re all prepared for the Overall Favourite thread.

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

Small Blue

This shot came from Martin Down back at the start of the summer. I’d been enjoying various encounters throughout the trip – Marshies, Adonis et al and I was walking along the main track back to the car park when a flurry of activity in the longer grasses of the verge caught my eye. There was a pair in cop making that distinct hour glass or bow tie like shape on a gently arching grass blade. They were quite peaceful and seemed to be enjoying a lazy ‘afternoon delight’…all the activity was coming from a second male who fancied his chances and was doing his best to displace the male that was already locked on as it were. I clicked away and this shot happened to catch all the action and inaction that I’ve just described in a single shot – hence it’s choice as my favourite.
Have a goodun

Wurzel

A couple of favourites from two separate spots: a mating pair seen at Martin Down on 24th May on my way back from Devon......and a nice fresh male in typical pose on a wide grass stem at Hutchinson's Bank a couple of days later.As my memory was jogged by the second encounter, I remembered this female laying on kidney vetch at the same location.I also saw the species in small numbers at both Box Hill and Denbies, but I didn't make it to any of their haunts on the Chilterns this year.

Dave

These at Hutchinsons Bank 14th May 2023

Visited my usual site near Glamis Castle on a very overcast day on 31st May and only found one roosting small blue.

However I visited a new recommended site at Logie Quarry near Tain on 3rd June and seen around 30 very active small blue on the wing.

Best photos attached.

Bert.

The site of my local Small Blue colony was fried to a crisp in 2022. The grassland was brown and crunchy and I doubted the ability of the second brood to breed successfully. My first visit in late May yielded no Small Blue and seemed to confirm my concerns. However, a return visit on 5 June was successful and both first and second broods turned out ok. Incredible. As for a favourite(s), characteristic views of a male and female perched in the grass.

Good to know that they survived, Wolfson.

Love the gentle iridescence of that first individual.

Trumpington Meadows, Cambridge 28th May

Quite an easy choice for fav piccie. Not to hard to find the species in cop (I found 3 separate pairs last year), but both individuals in mint condition and posing perfectly with no 'help' from me makes this a cut above the rest.

The Small Blue is an intermittent garden visitor here. This was the first example since 2020.

Bishops Hill in Warwickshire provided my first Small Blues in 2023 with good numbers seen during my visit on 23rd May. This was around a week later than my usual visits there, a result of the poor spring weather which had resulted in a later emergence.
I don't think I have ever visited there without finding at least one pair in cop and 2023 continued that run.
I also saw loads at Prestbury Hill when I went down there the following day (24th May).

Cheers,

Neil.

I was at Temple Ewell on the 15th June and again on the 10th of August, I was pleased to see the Small Blue but found it hard to get too many shots, they were very active, the vegetation was very high in August ,it was a case of wait patiently don't move Goldie

This individual, seen at Kenfig Dunes on 12 May, was the only one I photographed all year:

Small Blue has several strongholds on the fringes of south London. The first two below were photographed in late May, at Hutchinson's Bank.
Some of these Small Blue sites are clustered close to one another on the northern edge of the chalk in Epsom & Ewell. This female was photographed in early June at one of them.

The find of the 2023 for me..... A Small Blue found on the 29th July at Essex Wildlife Trust The Naze , Walton.
Only other recent Essex records were July 2021, 2020 and 2019, all males, believed to been blown across from Kents North Downs. For a butterfly that is not known for travelling any distance from its colony its along way from home.

Nice find, Julian. This butterfly is more resilient than any other I know of.