• Speckled wood
• Wall brown
• marbled white
• grayling
• Gatekeeper
• Meadow brown
• Small Heath
• Ringlet

First Emergence

The Holly Blue is common around holly and ivy in parks and gardens and is the first blue butterfly to emerge in the spring. In some years there is a second brood abundance of the little blue butterflies, when the UK populations are also reinforced by massive migration from the near continent.

Habit: The male butterfly is active and can be seen searching out the reticent females high in the tops of various large shrubs and small trees. It is often seen around ivy, one of its notable breeding plants. It also has a particular preference for damp, muddy pathways. These habits distinguish it from the common blue as a distnctly woodland butterfly

Double brooded, almost defying its name the butterfly does not just breed on holly, in fact eggs are found singly on the buds of several different host trees, dogwood and ivy being among the favourites. The eggs soon hatch, the larvae then feed for several weeks before pupation, butterflies emerging after three weeks. This cycle is interrupted for the overwintering larvae, which resume the cycle of development in the spring, the butterfly emerging, exceptionally in the survey area, as early as late March.

Status: not under threat