The Common Blue

As its name suggests this butterfly is found just about everywhere except mountainous regions of the country. I've seen plenty of them locally especially during July and August along the old canal bed  not too far from home. It's great to see the beautiful pale blue colour contrasted against the green of plants and foliage as in the photos I took below. The male is more blue than the female on the upper side of the wings but when settled on a flower with the wings upright and tight together they show the speckled brown underside of the wing.

Pretty though the blue is, the patterns under the wing are fascinating. I often wonder how such intricate patterns are formed with each butterfly a work of art in itself.

A detailed account of the Common Blue can be found on the UK Butterflies site.

The Common Blue feasting on a Great Willowherb flower.

The Common Blue magnified 10x showing the patterned underside of the wing..

A closer view x30.

x40

x40

x200

x40

x100

x30

Blue wing scales x40

Blue wing scales x100.

Blue wing scales x200.

Brown spots from the wing underside x40 resembling two closed eyes with black eyelashes.

Brown spot x200.

Wing scales x400 using the microscope light source through the wing.

Wing scales using the microscope light source at 1000x.

Common Blue eye x40.

The Proboscis 40x.

At 200x the individual facets of the eye are visible.

An Antenna magnified 60x.