Amanda's Blue (polyommatus amandus)
2008 photos highlighted green. Click on any photo to go to an enlarged picture, or simply scroll down the page.
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| 10978_male_Var_27May08 | 11836_male_Alpes Maritimes_1Jul08 | 10674_male_Var_20May08 |
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| 10919_female_Var_27May08 | 10936_female_Var_27May08 | 10639_pair_Var_20May08 |
This is one of the most attractive blues, probably the most. But someone once asked a famous expert what was his favourite butterfly. His answer "whichever one I'm looking at at that moment".
It is distinctly larger than most blues, which is quite apparent when they are on the wing. The male upperside is a silver-greyish blue, often, but not always, with a darker upf border of broadly consistent width (not borne out by these photos, though). The female upperside is brown often with a near-full set of uph orange lunules and sometimes some vestigial ones on the upf, although not always so. The male underside is quite characteristic and cannot really be confused with any other species. The female underside is similar with a consistent rich creamy brown colour and the same strong unh lunules and black post-discal series of spots often touching, and usually forming a clear right-angle. It is a spring butterfly in my experience, emerging at the end of May and not being apparent after early June. It is not common but usually seen at medium altitudes of around 1000-1300m although I have found colonies (which never comprise more than a few individuals) at two locations at around 2-300m. It is strongly attached to its larval foodplant, Tufted Vetch (vicia cracca) as indicated on the above photos.
10978: a male with a dark border which is tapering from the apex, not of constant width.
11836: a male puddling on a giant manure heap, where, strangely, no-one challenged me for the photographic rights. It is rather a pale shiny blue and with only a thin but distinct black border. This would be hard to ID from the books alone.
10674: a male, roosting for the night on vicia cracca. It is actually on the flimsy flowers, not on the stalks or leaves, and this is the actual angle of resting, so can someone please explain how it does not fall off?
10919: a female, unmistakeable from other female blues by virtue of its size.
10936: a very strongly marked female underside. Quite breathtakingly beautiful. Sitting, as 10674, on vicia cracca flowers.
10639: a mating pair, obligingly stationary for a photograph and nicely in the same plane so that depth of field was not a problem. The male is above. Pity that a bird had taken a chunk out of the female's forewing tip.
11836_male_Alpes Maritimes_1Jul08
