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Common blue or adonis blue?
Posted: Sun May 13, 2012 9:26 pm
by Susie
I found this roosting at Denbies today. Then the sun came out and it flew away. Earlier in the day I had seen Adonis but they were too flightly to photograph and prior to finding this chap I had found another roosting common blue. I had assumed this was a common blue until I got it home and looked at the wing margins on the computer. The black lines are there but don't go all the way through.
I'm out of practice and really am not sure if my initial ID of common blue is correct.
Can someone enlighten me please?
Thanks
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Re: Common blue or adonis blue?
Posted: Sun May 13, 2012 9:43 pm
by MikeOxon
I'll stick my neck out and say Common Blue, on the basis of the double fringe. Although the 'inner fringe' appears chequered, the 'outer' is plain white, which indicates Common to me. I think an Adonis would show more sign of the iridescence, too
I agree though that, at this stage of the season, we need to get our eye 'in'.
Mike
Re: Common blue or adonis blue?
Posted: Sun May 13, 2012 10:27 pm
by David M
I'm confident this is a Common Blue.
Re: Common blue or adonis blue?
Posted: Sun May 13, 2012 10:36 pm
by Susie
Thanks, Mike and David.
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Re: Common blue or adonis blue?
Posted: Mon May 14, 2012 3:04 pm
by Butterfly Gardener
It always amazes me just how rusty I am at the start of the season.
Re: Common blue or adonis blue?
Posted: Mon May 14, 2012 3:23 pm
by Susie
Yes, but it doesn't take much to get your eye back in.
Re: Common blue or adonis blue?
Posted: Wed May 16, 2012 9:57 am
by Butterfly Gardener
I did a butterfly ID exam in March and only got one wrong. To my great embarrassment it was the underside of a peacock that caught me out, probably because i'd spent so much time revising the rarer species. Taught me a lesson anyway.