Quite reclusive and often sedentary, so can often be missed. Until 2006 I had seen only single individuals at altitude locations (around 1000m or more) in the Vercors National Park, at the Col de Vars and in the Alpes-Maritimes. However, in June 2006 I found 50 or more at a lowland location in Var and since then in good numbers at other locations. Probably this is because I had not visited lowland areas of southern France in June before, and was only seeing the later emergence at altitude. It is superficially similar to the White-letter (S. w-album), the Ilex (S. ilicis) and the Sloe Hairstreaks (S. acaciae) but the strong straight white line and the blue spot near the base of the unh is unmistakable.

It is also appreciably larger and more triangular in shape, being a slightly greyer and lighter ground colour than many of its Satyrium cousins. It also seems to me to be a neat and tidy butterfly.

The blue spot is not entirely blue - the close-ups show that it is around 70% blue scales on a black background. The close-ups of some of the w-album specimens also have small blue spots in the same place.

observations

sex?

clearly a female, based on the visible body shape.

I had labelled this a female, possibly based on behaviour I saw in the field, but looking only at the photo, the sex is not clear.