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I just wondered if any one else out there is coming across any of our butterflies which are very much reduced in
size ,in particular Brown Argus and Common Blue .Yesterday at Dungeness I found a Brown Argus with a wingspan of no more than 10mm
(less than half an inch in old money !) it was absolutely minute ,I,ve posted a couple of shots but with nothing to give it real scale its just another Brown Arg ! I,ve also seen this year (and last ) tiny Common Blues and a Small White ,roughly the size of a largish Common Blue . I found another
Brown Arg; at Dungeness today ,about a mile from yesterdays siting . Anyone have any ideas ,could it be something to do with the frazzled foodplants ? Regards Allan.W.

Millerd and I were commenting on exactly that with both those species this afternoon on Denbies. We were speculating whether the prolonged heat has caused foodplants to whither and become less nutritional resulting in undersized adults. The Chalkhills on the other hand were huge but then the bulk of their growth would have occurred when the foodplant was still lush. Begs the question how big the Adonis second gen will be.

I have always (speculatively) put this phenomenon down to early pupation caused by desiccation of the foodplant. You often see tiny butterflies after heatwaves. What is the caterpillar to do: wander endlessly looking for lush, green foliage or cut its losses and pupate before fully grown?

Guy

Thanks for the input Gents, pleased that I was on the right tracks ! I forgot to say that last year I also found two minute Small Coppers.
Regards Allan.W.

I have certainly noticed that the Common Blues here in Southern Spain are considerably smaller than those found back home. I have always assumed that this is down to their food plants being dried up here and less nutritious.

Out at Denbies today with Bugboy and we saw a few very small Brown Argus, about the size of Small Blues. There were also Common Blues as small as you would expect a Brown Argus to be. The male Chalkhills all appeared entirely normal, though the few females around were perhaps on the small side.

Goodness knows how tiny the second brood of Small Blues will be...

Dave

Today at Binswood I saw a tiny second brood Common Blue and what appeared to me to be a smaller than usual Purple Hairstreak too.

Exactly my experience too : today I saw one very small Small Copper female and a miniature male Common Blue !

Hoggers

I have just seen a reasonably fresh but remarkably undersized female Marbled White in my meadow. She was the size of a Gatekeeper. They have been flying here since mid-June and are now towards the end of their season. Although early Spring was wet, it has been very dry here since May. I assume she was relatively late to pupate and was poorly nourished prior to pupation. Common Blue are emerging now, but the Birds Foot Trefoil looks rather crispy. With no rain forecast, maybe there is a problem ahead for some species.

This is exactly my recent experience with the one Common Blue that has appeared in our garden (Stoke on Trent) this year. I found it difficult to believe it was the same species I had photographed in previous years. I thought I must have mis-remembered the size until I saw this post.

I've noticed how small male Meadow Browns have been this year locally - the size of Gatekeepers but generally females appear to be of normal size. Perhaps the males emerged prematurely? I actually saw 2 males on 31 May. Things picked up very quickly after the cold start to spring delaying emergence of many of our first butterflies of the year.

ATB

Peter

Yesterday afternoon, i made a rather windy return to Queensdown Warren, Gillingham, Kent.

I sighted a 2nd brood "fresh" male Adonis Blue...but this butterfly was very small in size! The smallest Adonis Blue i have ever seen!

A photo then, cheers Paul.

When I was a child I had a half grown Peacock larva in a jam jar with a small pile of nettles. To my shame, I forgot completely about it. When I remembered, I found that it had pupated among the dried out nettle stems. An apparently perfect miniature imago later eclosed. It was considerably smaller than a normal Small Tortoiseshell.

Tony M.

A tiny male Green-veined White today - about the size of a male Common Blue - at Haydon, Somerset.

My captive Large White caterpillars are certainly not going to become tiny butterflies. I still have the seven I collected last Friday and only one so far has pupated. The others seem to be getting through one nasturtium leaf per hour. They are monsters but maybe that is because they are parasitised. I should find out in the next few days.

Jack

Continuing on from my original post ,I,ve found mainly Common Blues very reduced in size ,and found two more early evening
at my local downland sight (near Crundale ,Kent ),all the Chalkhills I,ve seen thus far appear to be of normal size (bar one at Lydden ),and my first (second brood) Adonis (6 males ) appear normal size as well ,large numbers of Small Heath on the wing and amongst these 1 small one.
Regards Allan.W.

Looks like I just missed the Adonis again. Goldie

Goldie M wrote:Looks like I just missed the Adonis again. Goldie

Hi Goldie - the Adonis are only just starting to emerge (2nd brood).

Cheers,

- Pete

A return trip to Queensdown Warren in Kent yesterday, an more tiny butterflies were seen.
A small male Adonis Blue, an both male an female Common Blues.

The fresh male Common Blue was very small in size, it just seemed weird to observe this perfect little male, flit around at great speed!
It was extremely hard to keep track of it, let alone try to capture an image. I had my camera on burst mode, so did manage a couple of shots though. Then within seconds it was gone, i had no chance to relocate it, especially in the heat/sunlight!

This image is not cropped, an just an unedited "grab shot".
Cheers Paul.

In the last few days I have visited Old Winchester Hill and Noar Hill. There were many Common Blues at both but I only saw mini versions at Old Winch - the ones there were the size of Small Blues. Of the 50 or so Common Blue I saw at Noar Hill in one day, they were all of a more conventional size. Noar Hill and Old Winchester Hill are only about 10 miles apart and both are Chalk Downland. The ones at Old Winch co-exist with thousands of Chalkhill Blue and a few Adonis but the ones at Noar Hill do not. I do not know what this means regarding butterfly size - if anything; but I think its interesting.

Cheers,