Chalkhill Blue

Chalkhill Blues Lysandra coridon are out in huge numbers all over the sunny slopes of Ivinghoe Beacon at the moment. Although many are starting to look slightly tatty there are still plenty of lovely fresh specimens about. I have made a couple of visits up to the hills on sunny late afternoons and was amazed by the clouds of males flitting over the lime rich grasslands occasionally settling on Greater Knapweed and Field Scabious. Although photographing the beautiful silvery-blue males was fairly easy, the brown females are more secretive spending much of their time crawling around in the short grass and proved much harder. In the end I had to settle for the shot below of a pair mating. The picture shows the much darker underside of the female. The males seemed to be very fond of the numerous Carline Thistles Carlina vulgaris which are flowering all over the slopes.

Mating pair of Chalkhill Blues

Male Chalkhill Blue Lysandra coridon

Male Chalkhill Blue on Carline Thistle

Two male Chalkhill Blues on Carline Thistle

The race of Chalkhill Blue found in Southern Britain Lysandra coridon coridon is also found across most of Europe, except Spain where the races asturiensis and caelestissima are found. These races are sometimes accorded specific status and are known to hybridise with Spanish Chalkhill Blue Lysandra albicans.

Apparently the numerous aberrations of Chalkhill Blue were highly prized by Butterfly Collectors in the 18th Century.

Chalkhill Blue should be around into September so there is still time to try for more shots of those elusive females!