By Tamar Johnson/David Aspinall This miniature butterfly smaller than a fingernail is so diddy that you wouldn't notice it flutter by. With immaculately coloured wings of gold and sapphire, the Western Pygmy blue looks like a carefully decorated piece of jewellery. With a wingspread of just half an inch – making it one of the world's smallest butterflies – is almost impossible to spot while perched on photographer Steve Shinn's nose. The 74-year-old spotted the multi-coloured bug after endless exploring of fields near his home in Long Beach, California. Steve said: "It took a good couple of hours to spot the pygmy. "These tiny gems live down the road in Huntington Beach on bushes near the beach so I decided to take on the challenge of getting some shots of them. "There are supposed to be lots of them but being so small, one has to look carefully. "Like most insects they are a bit slower and sluggish in the cool mornings. "With a lot of patience one can coax some of them into being cooperative." Western Pygmy blues are almost exclusively found in mainland North America. Despite being known as weak fliers, some have made it as far as Hawaii and even United Arab Emirates. ENDS