The Blue butterfly had vanished from the British countryside in the late 70s. But A successful reintroduction project over the past 25 years has seen the butterflies return to 25 sites.
The large blue begins life as a caterpillar feeding on wild thyme flowers. Then it tricks a species of red ant into thinking it is a lost ant grub. The gullible ants take the grub into the nest, where it feeds on the actual grubs for 10 months before emerging as a butterfly. The species only thrives on dry grassland where wild thyme or marjoram and the red ants are found.
A blue blog is being launched online by the national trust with updates on how the butterfly is doing and pictures from the site.
For more info log on to http://ntlargeblue.wordpress.com/
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