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Both taken on the island of Skiathos in the Aegean June 2014. I would be grateful for ID or possible ID of this Skipper and Blue. Thanks in advance

Thank you all for looking....I have spent some time since this post pouring through my guides and looking online. The Blue remains a mystery....the only one's I can find that for the area are normally found in mountainous area's so, I am still stumped.
However, I think the Skipper is a slightly worn Orbed Red Underwing ~ and it would fit with the location.

Sorry not to have replied, Chrissy. I noticed when you first posted but decided to think about it, then forgot.

The blue looks most like a common blue, form icarinus. The only alternative is Chapman's blue, which I can't rule out without seeing more of the upperside. The underside would be anomalous for Chapman's blue in Switzerland but butterflies can be quite different across their range. In the field, the best way of determining male Chapman's blue is by the androconia, which are not always obvious in a random photo but can usually be quite clearly seen if you view from the right angle.

Guy

Thank you very much Guy....Here are a couple more photo's in the hope that they may help one way or another
The first, I am pretty certain in the same butterfly But, there were a few in the same area...I think this was a different one but, all were missing the base spot on the forewing as far as I could see.

Well, both those pictures look like icarus to me. It's interesting if they all lacked cell spots there. Here are two pictures of thersites from Switzerland, illustrating how the androconial scales show as distinctive roughness on the wings:





Yours completely lack any hint of that so far as I can see - and as I say, the underside (apart from the cell spot) does look more like icarus.

Guy

Thank you very much once again