Tag Archives: Adonis Blue

A blue butterfly with white fringe to the wings and some black markings on a white flower

Adonis Blue. Photo: Donald Simcock

A brown butterfly with black, white and orange markings on some green vegetation

Adonis Blue. Photo: Donald Simcock

Two photos from Donald sent in telling us:

On Saturday 31/08/2024 I was volunteering on Fontmell Down and was there all day. Despite the grey overcast weather there were plenty of butterflies around, mostly disturbed as we were working. 

At lunch time I climbed up the hill to where the Silver-spotted Skippers are but only saw one. As I walked around, I saw Small Heath, Meadow Browns and only a few Adonis in the short turf of the upper hill. As I walked back down it was very noticeable that there were a lot of Adonis in the slightly taller grass, 30 or more and some of them had been out a while as they were missing scales.

A blue butterfly with white fringe to the wings and some black markings on a yellow flower

Adonis Blue. Photo: Penny Hawes

A blue and brown butterfly with white fringe to the wings and some black, white and orange markings on a yellow flower

Adonis Blue. Photo: Penny Hawes

Two photos from Penny sent in saying:

I was SO excited at Perryfields this afternoon, 29/08/2024.  Could this be my first ever Adonis?! I have been searching for 12 years since I first acquired my camera, and have never seen one. This one was a noticeably much brighter blue than the Common Blues flying near it. But I’m still not sure, as it has quite a tattered border – I’m hoping the black lines reach the edge?

EDITOR’S NOTE:  I too wanted this to be an Adonis Blue for Penny but to be certain decided to refer the photos to one of our Dorset BC “verifiers” and he responded as follows:

Though it was very tricky to see the underwing spots, I’m now pretty certain that it’s an Adonis Blue. Did lots of comparing with photos on UK Butterflies website and match to Adonis is much stronger – also colour of underwing looks brownish whilst it tends to be much greyer with Common Blue. Definitely not the best example and very hard to ID.

A blue butterfly with white fringe to the wings and some black markings on a plant seed head

Adonis Blue. Photo: Ann Barlow

A brown and orange butterfly on a purple flower

Meadow Brown. Photo: Ann Barlow

Two photos from Ann sent in telling us:

A visit to Hod Hill on 28/08/2024 yielded 3 Adonis Blues as well as a number of other species, which were all lovely to see as we near the end of a poor season.  The photo of the Meadow Brown also shows 2 red mites – I’ve only seen these on Common Blues and an Adonis Blue before.

An orange butterfly with black and brown markings on a yellow leaf

Wall. Photo: Mike Kirby

A blue butterfly with white fringe to the wings and some black markings

Adonis Blue. Photo: Mike Kirby

Two photos from Mike sent in with the following comments:

There are still plenty of good butterflies to be found at Tout Quarry, Portland. Whilst many of the “blues” are now showing signs of wear (Common, Chalkhill & Adonis seen) a visit yesterday, 26/08/2024 produced my target species, Wall Brown and a very fresh looking Adonis Blue. Time to get out and make the most of the tail end of summer!

An electric blue butterfly with white fringe to the wings and some black markings

Adonis Blue. Photo: Nick Galer

A brown butterfly with black, white and orange markings on some green vegetation

Adonis Blue. Photo: Nick Galer

Nick sent in these two photos telling us:

Delighted to have been successful in my search for Adonis Blue at Fontmell Down this afternoon, 14/08/2024 once the weather had improved. Found this recently emerged male warming in the sun.  Also saw a second brood Small Blue at Durdle Door.

A brown butterfly with black, white and orange markings on a green plant stem

Adonis Blue. Photo: Mike Kirby

A blue buttterfly on a green leaf

Common Blue. Photo: Mike Kirby

A couple of photos from Mike that he took on 31/05/2024 at Badbury Rings sent in telling us:

I’d gone to Badbury Rings hoping to catch up with some Common Blues, but was very pleased to also find this Adonis Blue by searching in the sheltered areas inside the Rings on a windy day.

Two brown butterflies with black, white and orange markings on a green leaf

Adonis Blue and Adonis Blue ab. krodeli. Photo: Tony Symonds

Two brown butterflies with black, white and orange markings on a green plant stem

Adonis Blue and Adonis Blue ab. krodeli. Photo: Tony Symonds

Tony from Worcester visited Compton Down yesterday. 01/06/2024 where he spotted these Adonis Blues.  They were down the chalk track on the right of the car park, on the embankment where all the Granville Fritillaries are – he told us that he thinks the female may be ab. krodeli.

Editor’s Note:  I referred these photos to Mark Pike who confirmed that this is ab. krodeli (on the left & below in these photos) adding that it is a fairly common aberration, especially in Dorset over the past few years. My thanks to Mark for confirming the ID.