I watched this mating pair of silver-studded blue butterflies (Plebejus argus) as the female fluttered around looking for nectar with the male firmly attached by his posterior.
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DWT Higher Hyde Heath, Purbeck. The female was giving the male a right old pulling as she looked for nectar, reminded me of foxes interlocked. The male is on the right, with duller orange patches and fewer silver studs on them, I wonder why the males are less showy (in this specific area) than the females, although overall they are bluer in colour.
Last year I only caught up with these lovely wasps at the end of their season, so I was determined to be more punctual this year. I was rewarded with some very interesting courtship behaviour involving the male stroking the female's head with his antenna and then beating out an increasingly fast rhythm with his wings against her abdomen until there was some tail tip-to-tip caressing. I shot some video and will post it once I have worked out how to resize it for Flickr! Hartland Moor, Dorset