Female, May 2005, Switzerland
Mating pair, Switzerland, May 2006
Female, Switzerland, May 2006
Female, Switzerland, May 2006
Female, May 2004
Female, May 2004 (my hand is there to stop the video camera focusing on the grass behind, which is often a problem with butterflies that perch on grass and flowers)
Male, May 2004
The upperside of the male is bright blue with a fairly narrow border, but both sexes are most easily recognised by the underside. The hindwing has a characteristic green basal area and the forewing shows strikingly large spots. It is a spring butterfly that until 2004 I had never seen, as it does not fly in my local region. The insects above were photographed along the Rhône Valley, where it seems to be reasonably common.
Update: In 2006 I discovered this species for the first time in my local region, Gryon (just the one individual so far - the female in pictures 3 and 4 above).