Butterfly ID please

Dem55

Dem55

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Lorraine
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I know this is a pretty poor shot, it was quite breezy when I took the photo, but I'd like to know what this is. It was quite small (about 2cm) and it doesn't show up well on the image, but the body was a deep iridescent blue.

I think it could be a female small blue, but all of the images I've seen for these seem to have a pronounced white edge to the wings. Can anyone confirm this?

DSC_1142_035.JPG
 
That's good enough for me, thanks Dave, I've seen male small Blues in the area (none about the other day though). I was just confused by the lack of the white border round the wings.
 
Hi Lorraine - your butterfly is definitely not a Small Blue! Looking at the pale markings along the wing edges, I'd guess at Brown Argus. Female Common Blue also has these markings but is noticeably larger. It's also a bit worn, which is why there is no white fringe around the wing edges. When fresh, the pale marks would also be bright orange.
I'm intrigued by your statement that you've seen male Small Blue in your area. Could you tell me where this is please (PM me if you don't want to reveal your location), and how you arrived at your identification? The reason I ask is that I was the Butterfly Recorder for the NE England Branch of Butterfly Conservation for a number of years. I'm not saying this gives me any particular expertise in butterfly ID, but it means I have access to a database of tens of thousands of butterfly records, going back to 1996, from the Tees to the Scottish Border. I'm pretty confident that Small Blue doesn't occur in NE England (but I'd love to be proven wrong ;)).

Cheers,

Dave
 
Hi Dave,

Thanks for your reply. I looked at images on the web and the small blue and brown argus females looked pretty similar.

Reading your post, I think it must be common blues I've seen here (Northumberland coast) - does that sound right to you? I don't know a whole lot about butterflies - which I guess is obvious! and again I think I'd just matched the wrong web image to my photos...oops!

:)
 
Hi Lorraine,

Given that your photo is from Northumberland, I've had a rethink about the ID, as Brown Argus is still mainly confined to the southern part of Co. Durham. Unfortunately, the diagnostic features separating Common Blue and Brown Argus are on the underside of the wings - I can usually be certain of the differences with upperwing photos only if the individuals aren't too worn. If you visited the site again, and saw more, trying to photograph the underwings would be helpful - even if the photos come out a bit blurred, as it's the number & position of spots that's diagnostic.
For ID'ing species in the future, here's some links:http://www.northeast-butterflies.org.uk/speciesb/butterflies.html
http://www.northeast-butterflies.org.uk/photogallery/gallery.html

These only feature butterflies which actually occur in your area, which narrows the field a bit!
Hope this helps,

Dave
 
Thanks Dave. I took the shot at Druridge pools. I'm not sure if I'll be back there in the next few days but if I am I'll try to catch the underwings.

Thanks for the link too. I'm going to look for a butterfly (I think it was, rather than a moth) I saw today.

Lorraine

I think I found it, first image I looked at - small skipper. May post a phot later for confirmation :-)
 
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