June 2025 Photo Information

Animal and Camera Details

June

Species shown: Common blue butterfly (Polyommatus icarus)

Common blues are among the most beautiful butterflies, upper parts of the males are bright blue, upper parts of the females are brown with blue at the center, but they are especially beautiful underneath. What also makes them photogenic is that they often sleep hanging on grass blades, which can give rise to spectacular images at sunrise, when they are covered with dew and the light is still soft.

The common blue butterfly is found in Europe, North Africa, the Canary Islands, and east across the Palearctic to Northern China. Recently it was discovered in Quebec, Canada. It is widespread in the British Isles. Its distribution trend shows a 15% decline since the 1970s. Previously, P. icarus was a very common species that occupied Europe and Asia, and was one of the most widely distributed butterflies in Britain. It is known to be tolerant of many habitats, including a wide range of grasslands. There has been an estimated 74% loss of the butterfly population since 1901. This could be due to the fact that 46% of the total land area covered by the butterfly’s preferred host plant, Lotus corniculatus, has also been lost since 1901 (Leon-Cortes, Jorge 1999).

The photo was taken with Canon 1DX and Sigma 150mm f/2.8 at f/4, 1/2000s ISO100