Lampides boeticus (Long-tailed Pea-blue)

Other Common Namess

Pea Blue, Pea-pod Argus, Tailed Blue, Long-tailed Blue

Notes

Reportedly a very common species, it took me months to actually find it. Eventually I found a number of them around the beds of native peas at Mount Annan Botanic Gardens.

I find this a very frustrating species to photograph. According to the books they’re strong fliers, and they certainly do spend most of their time flitting rapidly around as if they’ve overdosed on amphetamines. I finally found a couple of females that were looking to lay eggs – which meant that they switched to slow flight and they actually landed at times, so I was able to get a few photos.

To be honest, I was a bit disappointed by this species. They always look more attractive in the books than they did in life. Every specimen I got a decent look at was rather worn, which I suppose is hardly surprising since they fly so much……

In December 2004 I found more of these butterflies at Mount Annan. They were generally in better condition than those I’d seen previously, and they didn’t fly so much as it was a mostly overcast day.

This is one of those species that you can come across just about anywhere at any time of the year, though much of the time you don’t actually see any. However there were a LOT of them on the wing around Sydney and the Blue Mountains in October 2016; it was difficult to go anywhere close to a patch of remnant bush without seeing these butterflies. Fortunately, over the years I’ve been able to get photos of some decent specimens…

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