Silver-studded Blue

Silver-studded Blue
Silver-studded Blue, Iping Common

Saturday 4 June 2011

Every Cloud has a Silver Lining

It is blue-butterfly day here in spring,
And with these sky-flakes down in flurry on flurry
There is more unmixed color on the wing
Than flowers will show for days unless they hurry.

But these are flowers that fly and all but sing:
And now from having ridden out desire
They lie closed over in the wind and cling
Where wheels have freshly sliced the April mire. 

Blue Butterfly Days by Robert Frost

Iping Common, June 4th 2011
Like many others I thought I'd try and catch up with the Silver-Studded Blues Plebeius argus at Iping Common. Up early as is the norm these days, I arrived at Iping Common around 8:15am, a little later than planned due in no part to getting slightly lost on route - really should of printed a map out!

It didn't take long before I saw my first SSB, much smaller than I had expected but nonetheless, a beautiful specimen. As it was still fairly early and the sun was hiding behind some clouds, it was very obiliging, just sitting contently on a blade of grass while I snapped away happily. Content, I moved to the other side of the track where I spotted a few more SSB's, including 2 females. The female was to my surprise much more attractive than the books would make you think, not just a little brown job. As the sun rays began to creep out from behind the cloud, the butterflies started to spread their wings. Instead of dull brown, they sheened bronze and golden-green. As the temperature started to increase so did the numbers of SSB I spotted. I probably saw 10-12 males, plus the 2 females in total between 8:15 and 9:30 but I didn't range to far from my initial spot so I expect there were many, many more. What a fantastic little butterfly.


Male Silver-Studded Blue on Heather





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