The beholder's eye

By uniqueandlovely

He's an Adonis!!!

Adonis was the Greek demigod of beauty and desire, and if you get to see these stunning little blue butterflies you will understand why they share the name.
The Adonis blue polyommatus bellargus is from the family of butterflies Lycaenidae or the blues. I especially like the blue butterflies, and the Adonis blue is one of my particular favourites.
Very like the Common blue, it has a wingspan of 17mm, but the males are a much more striking turquoisy/sky blue, often with a row of small black spots on the hindwing. The wing fringes are also chequered black and white, something not seen in common blues.
The Adonis blue has been rapidly declining due to mismanagement of the chalk grasslands where it lives, leading to decline in the amount of it's foodplant Horseshoe vetch.
Fortunatly for me Mill Hill near Shoreham in West Sussex is ideal for these amazingly beautiful butterflies, along with Chalkhill blues and Common blues, as well as other chalk grassland species.
I hope you will enjoy, and thank you for dropping by

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