Butterfly ID

[Gastropod]

I’ve spotted this lovely butterfly on my lavender today. Any idea what it is? I’m in Belgium…
it’s pretty tiny. And quite lovely!

Are the inside bits of the wings bluer than your photo shows, or would you say that's pretty accurate?

It's a common blue. Really beautiful and a gorgeous colour. I used to do butterfly census work.

Darker round the edges and bluest in the centre.

I’ve had common blues in the garden a few years ago (Covid times) but this one seemed darker/ different, hence the question.

I seem to remember they like to lay eggs on holly/ivy - is that right? I had to pull up a lot of both this year and felt bad for the butterflies but I guess it’s not deterred them…

Fwiw, iNaturalist is a great app to identify most wildlife & plants, and works in Belgium too.

But yes, common blue, l'argus bleu, icarusblauwtje. I prefer the Flemish/Dutch name :)

My butterfly book calls it the azuré de la bugrane :-)

Anyway it’s still flitting around the lavender although the bumblebees keep knocking it out of the way.