Long tailed blue

Another back blip from our holiday in Sicily (only 3 more to go now). The long tailed blue butterflies were a constant presence in the garden fluttering close to and feeding on the rosemary flowers. This is not an uncommon species in Europe, though not one that I have seen before. The two colourful eye spots, the little tails and the patterning of the undersides of the wings are distinguishing features.

I was reading that the eye spots are meant to distract predators from pecking at the head. Interestingly one of the butterflies that I photographed had one eye spot apparently pecked out. It's always good to see practical demonstration of the theory.

For those who live in the south of England, there is just the remotest chance that you may come across one of these one fine day. They are an extremely rare vagrant to Britain.

After our expedition yesterday, we needed a more restful day and we hardly strayed from the garden of the house in which we were staying.