Chalkhill Blue

Scientific Name - Polyommatus coridon

Flight Period - July to September (single brood)

Overwinters as - Egg

Habitat - Grassland

Larval foodplants - Horseshoe Vetch

Conservation status - Low priority

Northamptonshire distribution - Rare visitor

Best public sites to see them - Most recent sighting was at Twywell Hills and Dales. They used to be regularly recorded in the north of the county, particularly in Collyweston Deeps.

The Chalkhill Blue is a very rare butterfly in Northamptonshire. They used to be annually recorded rather sporadically in the north of the county and it was believed at the time that these must have been butterflies wandering from their sites in neighbouring Cambridgeshire. However, in 2017 a startling discovery was made at the former Spanhoe Airfield west of Wakerley Wood where a huge colony was found. On one day over 300 were counted. Unfortunately, this celebration was rather short-lived as very soon after the site was scraped and turned into a working quarry destroying the population in the process. Annual Chalkhill Blue records promptly stopped after this which suggests that the sporadic records that were received in the locality almost certainly actually came from here rather than Cambridgeshire. In 2022 a single Chalkhill Blue was recorded at Twywell Hills and Dales breaking a five-year absence of the species in the county.

Chalkhill Blue Distribution 2018 - 2022

Chalkhill Blue

Chalkhill Blues mating

Chalkhill Blue

Chalkhill Blue