Since Saturday I'm back in the Netherlands after two quiet weeks in France...on our way back home we crossed a busy village in the Netherlands where we had to wait long for some traffic lights and an open drawbridge. In a small meadow I saw a lot of butterflies, mostly white species but also some blue species and Small Coppers. On Sunday morning the alarm clock went off earlier and just before sunrise we entered a small heath area to search for small coppers. The flowering season was definitely over as the heather was brown.  We found about 15 roosting Small Coppers and exce ..read more

Today it's the 12th day that Greece is burning around Alexandroupolis....the area which we visited in Spring 2022 to find and photograph the False Apollo. It was one of the last European spots of this beautiful butterfly species.  Places which we visited are gone, national forest are gone, a lot of dead animals which were helpless in the flames....it's unbelievable how big this tragedy is. The animals who survived the flames will starve as there is nothing to eat anymore. ​This photo below is taken by satellite two days ago.... Credit: European Union, Copernicus Sentinel-2 imagery The t ..read more

In February the Jordan brothers and I made plans to visit the Eifel this year during the first weekend of August. As the trip came closer the weather forecast became worse....it was going to be a wet weekend. We arrived Friday afternoon in sunshine and after we checked-in we visited one of our good old spots and noticed fluttering butterflies; what a relief after a bad butterfly season! On Saturday morning the alarm clock went off early and it was a good feeling to be out again and photographing roosting butterflies: Small Skipper Marbled White The weather was not bad at all an ..read more

One of the reasons I wanted to visit the Röhn area was to catch* the Clouded Apollo before becoming extinct in this area. I only knew two higher locations but as the temperatures were low before our trip the chance to find them was low. I learned that there was a secret kept location on a lower part but I really didn't know where. The first days after arrival I visited the higher locations but there was no sings of a Clouded Apollo or any other butterflies. Long story short....after one week I found a good clue on the internet and finally I found the place with at least 10 flying Clouded Apoll ..read more

For years the Röhn region in central Germany was on my wishing list for butterflies;  normally I visit the Eifel at this time of the year. Last year the amount of butterflies was disappointing low in the Eifel that I booked a hotel in the Röhn area for one week in May/June this year....I wanted more butterflies! The first morning we visited a nature reserve nearby but we couldn't find roosting butterflies, as it was the first day I had good hope that the situation would change.  During the week we visited a lot of nature areas in every corner of the Röhn but no meadows with flutteri ..read more

Last Tuesday it was the last day with summer temperatures and again I noticed a fresh Provence Hairstreak around the accommodation. Near the house a lot of small marguerites are flowering and the Provence Hairstreak likes them a lot but when I approached her (it was a female) with my white umbrella she disappeared immediately. So I placed the umbrella above a part of the highest flowers and waited...and waited....and then she came. She granted me two photo's...as you can see her left frontleg is in the 'flying away position' and she is moving her hind wing...ready to take off again.  ..read more

In the higher parts of the hills we discovered, actually my friend did, a spot/area with a lot of Provence Hairstreaks and the good thing about this spot/area is that it is accessible. Having access to meadows in this area of Spain it's almost impossible as everything is in private hands and behind high fences. During the first week we drove around to search for butterfly meadows but we did not find them, almost every square meter of land is in use for cattle and fenced.  Only small parts near roads and paths are available to search for butterflies even in the higher part of the  ..read more

My first blog since months and my last blog for this year. Since Aosta I haven't touch my camera anymore as I was very busy creating a kind of life work for my children. 2022 was an eventful year with personal changes and beautiful butterfly trips to Greece, France and Italy. Retreat to nature for a while with good company, meadows full of butterflies and a good glass of wine with delicious cheese gives me so much energy! Good life with a great view So for 2023 I treat myself with an early butterfly trip to the mountains/nature of Spain. During June/July I will stay at  my house in the ..read more

It's almost four weeks ago that I have left Italy. The last week I stayed in a more alpine area than the other valleys but due to the drought and hot temperatures a lot of alpine species were not flying or already gone. On the yellow flowering arnica montana I found one roosting butterfly the first morning....the other six days the flower buds were empty....no roosting fritillaries unfortunately.  There were plenty of butterflies, the majority were erebia's and skippers. Erebia's are very nervous 'bastards' especially when there are not covered with dew. There were a lot of differen ..read more

Last Saturday we moved to an other valley with the hope to find a lot of alpine butterfly species. Unfortunately this valley is extremely suffering from the drought and although at day hundreds of butterflies are flying, I miss a lot of species.  The erebia's, grizzled skippers, scarce coppers and chalkhill blues are doing it very well. Thanx to a lot of erebia species I hit the 100 species! Silvery Argus Scarce Copper and..... During my visits to this valley in 2020 and 2021 I found the Silvery Argus....for me a special species and fortunately I found them regularly early ..read more