Butterfly Identification, Blues     Next Page back to 1st Page

There are only two blue butterflies you can see in North Wales, unless you go to some special sites where the Silver-studded Blue, that cannot fly more than a few metres, lives. See the Advanced ID Workshop for more about our own rare race of Silver-studded Blues.

If you would like to help us save butterflies by keeping records of the ones you see click here; Recording or for just a Recording sheet to print off; Record

Blues and Coppers - (The Lycaenidae family) ; Generally quite small and bright blue, females sometimes being brownish on top. Only 2 common species locally - the Common Blue that flies near the ground and has orange-spotted underwing, and the Holly Blue that flies higher up and has pale blue underwings. The only other Blue recorded in N.Wales is the Silver-studded Blue that stays in very small areas and is rare. There may still be Small Blues around that haven't been recorded - please see the Advance ID Workshop for more on these two species.	Common Blue, Female (Polyommatus icarus) Blue butterfly females are often quite or nearly all brownish, but you can usually see a blue-ish tinge close to the body. Note the orange spots on the forewing do not go all the way up to the top, this helps to distinguish this butterfly from the Brown Argus - see the Advanced ID workshop page for Blues to find more about this.		Common Blue, Male (Polyommatus icarus) The male does not have any markings on the top of the wings. Common Blue caterpillars feed on Bird's-foot-trefoil, which is a nice little yellow-flowered plant you could easily grow in your garden to attract this butterfly and several others; Click here; plantlist to find out how to obtain this plant and many others to attract butterflies.
Small Copper (Lycaena phlaeas) Our last Copper that is technically part of the same family as the Blues. There is nothing else in Britain that looks at all like this one.There used to be a Large Copper that became extinct in the UK in the 1980s. (It still lives in the Low Countries) The Small Copper is still described as 'common' in the books, but has suffered a serious decline in recent years. If you are not already a member of Butterfly Conservation, please join us and help us try to save any more species from dying out; click here; Membership	Common Blue, underwing (Polyommatus icarus) Note the separate orange spots along the edge of the wing and the inner black dots that if joined together with a pen would  make a rough circle.	HollyBlue, underwing      (Celastrina argiolus) You can see from the above two pictures that you can easily tell the difference between the Common and the Holly Blue if you manage to get a look at their underwings. (follow them until they settle). If you can't see the underwing you can still tell if it's a Holly Blue because it tends to fly higher up, around bush and tree tops.	Holly Blue, Top view (Celastrina argiolus) The caterpillars feed on the opening flower buds of Holly in the Spring and then a second brood needs to feed on Ivy in the autumn.             (Photos by Janet Graham, Jan Miller and Ilija Vukomanovic)