Common Blue Butterfly

Common Blue Butterfly, Tyrol, Austria. This image was captured early morning as the butterfly slept, waiting for the sun to rise. Taken during a fantastic week in the Austrian Alps photographing the amazing range of plants and insects in the Alpine meadows. I won the trip as part of my award in the British Wildlife Photography Awards a while back and the tour focused primarily on macro photography.

About the Fritillary Butterfly:

Common blue butterflies (Polyommatus Icarus) are found throughout Europe, North Africa, Iran, and the Canary Islands. These distinctive bright blue butterflies can be found in a wide range of habitats including meadows, shrubs, flower borders, herb gardens and wooded areas. Common blues are active between May and October. They lay their small white eggs on the underside of leaves in June and often again in then August and September. Common blue caterpillars hibernate and pupate in April and May giving rise to adults in May and June.

The caterpillars are short, green and furry. They feed on the underside of young leaves, leaving the upper leaf epidermis intact. This creates silvery blotches on the leaves that are easy to spot. The caterpillars secrete nutrient-containing substances that attract ants. In turn, the ants protect the caterpillar from predators. Ants probably tend the chrysalis too. – https://www.butterflyidentification.com/common-blue.htm

You can find more about Common blue Butterflies here.