Common Blue

The Common Blue is the most common blue butterfly in Britain, but males and females look very different. Males have bright violet-blue upper wings with a thin white edge, while females are mostly brown with orange spots along the edge of their wings and often have some blue scales near their bodies. Both males and females have orange spots and pale blue areas on the underside of their wings. This butterfly lives in places with lots of flowers, such as grasslands, coastal sand dunes, heathlands, and roadsides all over the British Isles. It can be found wherever the plants its caterpillars eat are growing. The caterpillars feed only on plants from the pea family, especially Bird's-foot Trefoil and Common Restharrow. The adult butterflies appear in two or sometimes three groups of broods between May and September. Males usually come out a little earlier than females. They are often seen feeding on nectar from low-growing flowers or resting with their wings open on bare ground when the sun is shining.