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Adonis Blue - Favourite Photo of 2016

Week 1 - Here we go!

Starting this week the first opportunity to showcase your favourite shots of 2016! Please could I ask that everyone waits until a topic has been opened by me for a particular species before posting photos - just to make it easier to organise and keep everything on track so that we can enjoy this throughout the winter months? Of course our overseas members are very welcome to fill in the obvious gaps relating to rare UK migrants. As like last year 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

Let's get the ball rolling! As usual it's hard to single out one, so here are a few from particular trips that stand out. Firstly a male from the first brood at Denbies sucking up minerals from the chalk, plus one of several quite blue females seen at the same location a few days earlier. Next is a brand new more "normal" female from my visit to the Marsh Fritillaries in Wiltshire, which brings back memories of an excellent day in convivial company. Lastly comes a perfect male from Durlston when the real target was Lulworths. Dave

Stunning pictures, Dave!

A trip to Denbies to catch the sunset on 29th August, gave me this beautiful female just before sundown:
And this male just after.

That time of year, already! Where better to start than with the brilliant colour of the Adonis Blue? I missed any sightings of the spring brood, so was determined to catch up with them later in the year. Aston Rowant provided this example, in company with Common Blues, along the earthworks on the lower slopes of the bank. A good memory to carry through the winter...
Mike

I managed to fill my boots with these in both broods at Denbies and with a little bit of patience I found several males who were willing to sit for me, probably more due to the less than ideal weather conditions we experienced than any real desire to be pestered by a man with a camera! Here's a couple that I'm quite proud of

Hello,
My favourite Adonis Blue is this female form ceronus seen in mid June, in the South of France, simply because this was my first ever sighting of this form. I wouldn't mind a few more sightings of the same next year. Cheers, Chris

The male and nicely-marked female open-wing shots are from late May in Dordogne. The middle was taken early morning after a cool wet night in early September - still warming up, this individual's wings are covered in tiny droplets of water - also in Dordogne.

One of many species I didn't see in the UK in 2016 due to spending so much time in France.

However, lots of bellargus in both the Pyrenees and the Alps. Here's a female seen in the Parc du Mercantour in July which looks sufficiently blue to be ceronus:
....and then this one from May in the Pyrenees. Only half of it is Adonis - the other half is Chalkhill! My first ever polonus hybrid:

Hello all,
I,m lucky enough to have ,several Adonis colonies near to home( mid- Kent),and can be on site within 20 minutes,and have had a lot of late afternoon visits (from work)
particularly enjoyed looking through the roosting indivuals,for Abberations,as the sun goe's down,and have been lucky enough to find 5 this season,all underwing Abs; and would love to find "Ceronus". the first picture is from the Spring brood, and the second a late summer individual,which was obliging enough to let me experiment,and shade it,
inspired by the brilliant " shaded" Long tailed Blue shot ( by Mud- puddling ) from 2013.
Regards Allan.W.

Adonis Blue

This was taken at The Devenish in the final days of August. For several years at least I’ve envied the aberrant Adonis shots people have posted on UKB – the ones where the underside of the wing is spotless, a blank canvas. This is my favourite Adonis of 2016 as it is an aberrant which is almost the opposite of those blank canvas aberrants I’ve envied, with an almost continuous vertical line of spots running up the underside of the forewing. Have a goodun

Wurzel

Hello all,

I have recently registered with this site and this is my first post. I am not sure of the processes but I hope this works.
I live on the western edge of East Anglia so only a few chalk grasslands are easily accessible and Adonis sites are a long way off.

The first is from a visit to Lydden Down in Kent at the end of August.

The second is a first brood specimen found on a visit to Bonchurch Down on the Isle of Wight in early June.

Ian