Blue or brown?

I woke to the awful news that a suicide bomber had targeted a concert full of teenagers and children in Manchester, causing twenty-two fatalities and many more serious injuries. Such a terrible waste of life, and so many families left grieving for loved ones. But the response of the people of Manchester was amazing, and they are determined that this will not cause divisions within their very diverse community. Their spirit will not be broken.

But life must go on, and for me that meant a very long and hot day of survey, which left little time to dwell on the state of the world. I did manage to sneak a few photographs, including this one of a resting butterfly. Superficially it looks a lot like a Common Blue, but careful examination of the pattern of spots indicates that it's a Brown Argus. 

Unlike most other "blues", the Brown Argus has no blue scales on its upperside, both sexes being primarily brown in colour as its common name suggests, although the butterfly does exhibit a blue sheen when at certain angles to the light. Both sexes have beautiful orange spots on the upperside of both forewings and hindwings. 

This species occurs in small, compact colonies, and is not a great wanderer, only travelling a couple of hundred metres, at most, from where it emerged. Although the primary larval foodplant is Common Rockrose it also eats Common Stork's-bill and Dove's-foot Crane's-bill, which are both abundant on many brownfield sites.