Friday 23 August 2013

Holly Blues at Cliffe

There were at least half a dozen second brood Holly Blues in a very short walk to the scoping view over ?? pool so there must have been lots over the reserve as a whole. I can't remember having seen them in the garden yet. The ones I saw over a month ago would have been first brood.

The second brood is different in that the female has very dark wing edges, a feature most noticeable when I got a flash of upperwing at last, too quick to photograph.

The underwing pattern is a diffuse scattering of small spots over the pale surface, with a nice thin "eyebrow" mark in the middle. In fact the spots are quite a consistent pattern, although this is a little difficult to describe in words. Nice second brood individuals. The legs are gorgeously patterned (rather in the style of Cruella De Ville) and the antennal tips look like expired sparklers with their white ashy tips. On the forewing you can see the "eyebrow" of this wing easily, and if you look at the edge of the fore wing you can see the dark chequer marks along the margin, which are not really repeated on the hindwing.

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