(Denis and Schiffermüller, 1775)
Blue-spot Hairstreak
Description:
The Blue-spot Hairstreak can be found in sunny, warm places, on groups of bushes, or on scrub at the edge of a wood, with some flowering vegetation as nectar source nearby.
The female lays her eggs on various buckthorns (Rhamnus spp.), choosing branches situated in the sun. The small caterpillar only emerges in the spring, having passed the winter in the eggshell. It wastes no time in beginning to eat buds and young leaves. When fully-grown, it pupates on the food plant, the chrysalis suspended by a silken girdle.
The Blue-spot Hairstreak has one generation a year.
Habitat:
Tree lines and hedges
Dry calcareous grasslands
Mixed woodland
Heath and shrub
Deciduous forests
Similar species:
Satyrium w-album
Satyrium pruni