The Idas Blue is similar to the Silver-studded Blue and often occupies the same habitats, making positive ID tricky. In the male of this species however the wing margins are usually narrower and it lacks the foreleg ‘spike’. It prefers slightly more northern climes than the Silver-studded Blue too, avoiding most Mediterranean areas and being found well into the Arctic Circle. The photographs below are of several individuals that I found near Cluj-napoca which lack the foreleg tibia spike, so I am pretty sure that they are Idas Blues.

Distribution: Most of Europe although absent from Britain and Ireland, much of Iberia (except Sierra Nevada and the north), much of peninsular Italy, southern Greece and the Mediterranean islands.

Flight Period: May-August in one or two broods.

Habitat: Woodland clearings, scrub, brownfield land, meadows, flowery mountain slopes and bogs at a variety of altitudes.

Foodplants: Legumes such as Bird’s-foot Trefoil (Lotus corniculatus), Crown Vetch (Securigera varia), brooms (Cytisus), Lucerne (Medicago sativa) etc. Also heathers (Erica) and sea-buckthorns (Hippophae).

Nectar Sources: Thymes (Thymus), heathers (Erica), sainfoins (Onobrychis), thistles (Cirsium), buglosses (Echium)and a wide variety of other plants.

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