Wednesday 25 February 2015

A Little Gem.

A butterfly found mainly in the southern half of the UK but sadly not on the Isle of Wight is the Silver-studded Blue.The New Forest in particular is an excellent place to see this species, with 'explosions' occurring in some years on the Forest heathlands when thousands can be seen.Sightings of this 'blue' on the Island are rare,the last is a very dubious report of an individual in 2011.Not since the 1940's has the Silver-studded Blue colonised the Island.
 The following photographs were taken on a very dismal,grey,and wet July day in the New Forest when the butterflies were keeping deep down in the heather.As with most of the 'blues'the female is not blue like the male,but rather a chocolate brown.The silvery blue 'studs' are visible on the underside of the female in the second picture.





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