Holly Blue Butterfly Celastrina argiolus

Holly Blue butterflies emerge early in the spring and are often seen in gardens in the southern half of the UK. Like all "blues", they are small.

The male (above left) has iridescent pale blue wings with a thin black line on the edges while the female (above right) has duller wings with a thick brown-black border and black spots.

They rarely open their wings at rest, but from the side they can easily be distinguished from the Common Blue as the sides are pale blue with black spots.

The Holly Blue is native to most of the Northern Hemisphere and has many subspecies across its vast range.