www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

After a long miserable summer of not very many butterflies, I was astonished by the huge numbers of Chalkhill Blues on the wing on Therfield Heath, Hertfordshire, last Sunday. All over the heath there were scores visible in every direction and lots of small clusters of males around the females. I came across several mating pairs - I hadn't realised they could fly in cop. Anyway, these pairs were the most obliging for photos:

Mating Chalkhill Blues by Alastair Rae, on Flickr

Nice picture Alastair Have to say the praying mantis in your photobook is something else

Philzoid wrote:Nice picture Alastair Have to say the praying mantis in your photobook is something else

I agree - a bizarrely exotic creature, and sinister too! Beautiful.

Guy

Seems lots around this year when i been to Aston Rowant and Hexton chalk pits (herts) had in the big hundreds

ID check please.

Are these female Chalkhill Blues?

http://www.glaucus.org.uk/ChalkhillBlues(fem).jpg

In late August when these pics were taken in a small garden plot sized area it was only known for Chalkhill Blues. A few days later the first male Adonis Blue was spotted.



Pic on

Adur Butterfly & Large Moth List
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Butterfly-list2012.html

My gut feeling says they are all Chalkhills. My personal rule of thumb is that if there is a noticeable brown crescent on the inside edge of the hindwing orange spots, then it's a Chalkhill. On Adonis females, this is absent or very faint indeed. Adonis females are also supposed to have blue scales between these orange spots and the edge of the hindwing, but this is not always the case and difficult to see on worn individuals. Chalkhill females do not have any blue here. Others will no doubt have more detailed observations and more reliable criteria!

Dave

Thanks for the reply. Proper reply later. My intuition said the same. From recent reports Adonis are now in ascendancy over Chalkhills locally. More later.