
Common Blue
Our smallest resident butterfly is easily overlooked, partly because of its size and dusky colouring, but partly because it is often confined to small patches of sheltered grassland where its sole foodplant, Kidney Vetch, is found.
Males set up territories in sheltered positions, perching on tall grass or scrub. Once mated, the females disperse to lay eggs but both sexes may be found from late afternoon onwards in communal roosts, facing head down in long grass. The butterfly tends to live in small colonies and is declining in most areas. Found throughout Britain and Ireland but rare and localised.
The sole foodplant is Kidney Vetch (Anthyllis vulneraria). The larvae live only in the flower heads where they feed on developing anthers and seed.
Rare but found on sheltered, warm grassland habitats which have Kidney Vetch. Habitats include; chalk and limestone grassland, coastal grasslands and dunes and man-made habitats such as; quarries, gravel pits, road embankments and disused railways.
Andrew Cooper
Andrew Cooper
Small Blue (upperwing) - Iain Leach
Iain Leach
Small Blue (male/upperwing) - Bob Eade
Bob Eade
Small Blue (upperwing) - Peter Withers
Peter Withers
Small Blue (underwing) - Tamás Nestor
Tamás Nestor
Small Blue - Heath McDonald
Small Blue - Heath McDonald
Gillian Thompson
Gillian Thompson
Gillian Thompson
Gillian Thompson
Small Blue (egg) - Peter Eeles
Peter Eeles