Common blue

Polyommatus icarus

One of the commoner small blue butterflies with a wingspan of 25-40 mm, males are a lilac-blue with narrow black margins while females are blue or brown, with or lacking orange crescent-shaped markings. There are several subspecies in the country. The common lives in a variety of habitats, such as coasts, farmland, roadsides, riversides, grassland, damp meadows, pastures, and stony slopes. Host plants include pinewood milk-vetch (Astragalus pinetorum), crown-vetches (Coronilla spp.), greenweeds (Genista spp.), vetchlings (Lathyrus spp.), birdsfoot-trefoil (Lotus corniculatus), medicks (Medicago spp.), clovers (Trifolium spp.), and strawberries (Fragaria spp.). It flies March through early November.

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Photographs

male