---
title: "Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus) · Rampant Scotland"
description: "Although it can be found in many parts of Scotland, the Common Blue isn't actually all that common. The brightly coloured males are more easily seen but females"
canonical: "https://rampant-scotland.pages.dev/butterflies/butterfly_common_blue.htm"
last-updated: "2026-11-11"
date-basis: "git-content-change"
---

# Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus) · Rampant Scotland

Butterflies of Scotland

# Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus)

[Original page](https://web.archive.org/web/20200712055525/http://www.rampantscotland.com:80/butterflies/butterfly_common_blue.htm)

Restored from the raw archived page capture: original scripts, advertisements and shared site navigation removed. Original wording, photographs and layout order preserved.

Common Blue Butterfly

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 Although it can be found in many parts of Scotland, the Common Blue isn't actually all that common. The brightly coloured males are more easily seen but females less so, with the upperwings of females varying in colour from almost completely brown in southern England to predominantly blue in western Ireland and Scotland. In England Wales and Ireland Common Blues have two broods and can be seen between May - June and August - September. Single broods are the norm in Scotland with adults on the wing between June and September. The Common Blue is found in a variety of grassy habitats in sunny, sheltered positions where the foodplants (such as Common Bird's-foot-trefoil, Black Medick and White Clover) for its caterpillars can be found.

The Common Blue favours lowland grassland habitats, particularly in coastal areas and disturbed waste ground in urban locations. As a result, colonies can be lost when such sites are developed for housing etc. The metallic blue colour of the male is not due to pigment but to diffraction of sunlight by thousands of corrugated scales on the wings that absorb all colours of the spectrum except blue.

Common Blue Butterfly

**Return to the Butterfly [Index](https://web.archive.org/web/20200712055525/http://www.rampantscotland.com:80/butterflies/index.htm)

or go to the next Butterfly: [Dark Green Fritillary](https://rampant-scotland.pages.dev/butterflies/butterfly_green_fritillary.htm)**.

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## Source

From Rampant Scotland, restored from the page as it stood on 12 July 2020. [Original page](https://web.archive.org/web/20200712055525/http://www.rampantscotland.com:80/butterflies/butterfly_common_blue.htm).

Links to pages not yet restored here lead to the original page or elsewhere on the web; 1 of 2 links on this page are restored on this site.