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The diversity and amount of butterflies in ‘Naturpark Bayerischer Wald’ is dramatically low this year. The wild meadows which I found in 2014 and 2015 have all been mown already and at day when the sun is shining I only see some whites species flying and on higher places the erebia species which were absent in 2015. The first morning after arrival I visted ‘my’ Dusky Large Blue spot and was surprised that the meadows near the road were mown until the road. In the last two years the metre near the road with a lot of Great Burnet plants were saved for the butterflies. Another meadow near the creek full with Great Burnet was already mown. But, after a long search I found ONE nausithous and TWO marbled whites.
My second and third visit were the spots near the Dreisesselmountains. Unfortunately a lot of trees had been stored in the little habitats where I found Coppers in 2014 and 2015. Due to the heavy weight of the stored trees the little habitats now looks more like a dessert; the flowers are gone and with them the Coppers!  Large Ringlet Of course the farmers do their job like the foresters, but it's a pity that a region which called itsself 'Naturpark' do not care about their little wildlife!
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Fortunately the extreme heat is over, it's not funny to search for butterflies in the evening and that the few which I found flew away; same story early in the morning. Despite the higher temperatures and a lot of flowers I still do not have much butterflies in my garden. But, sometimes one little Holly Blue is enough!  Holly Blue - Canon 7DMKII, tripod, remote release, torch, 180 mm, 1/40 sec, F 4, ISO100 Weeks ago I discovered two caterpillar nests of the Map Butterfly in my garden. I was very happy as I have not seen any Map Butterfly during spring. After two weeks I had a lot of chrysalises but most of them emerged when I was at work. Fortunately some chrysalises did me a favour and emerged when I was at home. However, to photograph a nice sequence of the emerging process was a mission impossible as the emerged butterflies always climbed into the direction I did not expect. Up instead of down, down when I expected up, left instead of right etc.  Emerging Map Butterfly - Canon 7DMKII, tripod, remote release, reflector, 180 mm, 1/85 sec, F 8, ISO250 Next to the Map Butterfly I found some caterpillars of the Brimstone in my garden; their chrysalises emerged a little bit slower and into one direction.  Emerging Brimstone - Canon 7DMKII, tripod, remote release, reflector, 180 mm, 1/125 sec, F 7.1, ISO250 Due to the gravitational force this Brimestone glides out of the chrysalis and lost the control of its tongue for a second. Sometimes they are really funny stunters!
My 48th year of life started this morning in the area of the Large Chequered Skipper. The sun was shining, the Golden Oriole was singing and Bas found one after another Skipper. What a nice start of my birthday! A part of the butterflies are resting in this area near the path so there is no need to enter their natural habitat; when the temperature was rising we saw a lot of butterflies with open wings near the path which we had missed. Fortunately this species is not drowned!  Large Chequered Skipper - Canon 7DMKII, tripod, remote release, reflector, 180 mm, 1/125 sec, F 8, ISO100 This 'old' Large Chequered Skipper was resting on a folded stalk which was hanging around and due to the wind it was like the Skipper was sitting on a swing.
Recently I visited an area nearby to check if the Silver-studded Blue is still alive or drowned. I planned a walk with Wanda without camera but my brains remind me that a visit without camera would mean that I will see something special like by example a pairing couple (a kind of highest goal). So secretly I took my camera and tripod with me but left both in the car and started to walk with Wanda. When we entered the heath part we could not continue our walk due to the high water on the path and between the heather around. As I did not wear rain boots it was impossible for me to continue the walk but my eye saw something in the distance.....unbelievable but true, it was a pairing couple of the Silver-studded Blue! I needed to return to the car to get my camera and tripod and to find a dry path back to reach the butterflies. I asked Wanda to sit down next to me and miraculously she was well-behaved and laid down for almost an hour. It was very very windy and a big dark cloud was disturbing my ambience. So I waited and waited but when finally the the sun appeared from behind the cloud I was surrounded by shadow. But, I will not complain! The next time I will check an area for butterflies with Wanda, surely again 'without' camera.  Silver-studded Blues - Canon 7DMKII, tripod, remote release, 180 mm, 1/12 sec, F 7.1, ISO 160 Since my return from the Cevennes I have noticed some butterflies but within minutes they needed to hide for the next rain shower. It's increadible how much rain is coming down and down again and how many acres are flooded. The farmers and/or the water company started cleaning the ditches which means a lot of nature/plant destruction. It's sad because due to this intensive procedure most of the wild flowers are gone and with them the butterflies!  These are the days that I'm longing to return to France, to the laissez faire country with meadows full of butterflies, good cheese and some old French cars!
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Jibt dir dit Leben mal een Buff, denn weene keene Träne. Lach Dir'n Ast und setz Dir druff und baumle mit de Beene.
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