Ardeche part II: Gordius & Esculi

Canon 7D; tripod; remote release; 180mm, 1/125s at F10 and ISO160

After I photographed the Marbled Fritillary I was on my way back when I saw a little orange butterfly. I made some photos but unfortunately the butterfly
disappeared.
The next day the sun was shining again but fortunately the temperature was still pleasantly so I decided to climb up again (with heavy backpack and tripod).

On the exact place as the day before I found the little orange guy again: a Purple-shot Copper (Lycaena alciphron). This male butterfly was driving me crazy as he defended his place very well which means that every butterfly, every big fly, every dragonfly which came near, get chased away. But, after changing the position and the height of my tripod for at least 50 times he stayed for a few seconds....

Walking up to the hilltop I found a second and third Purple-shot copper, both females. These ladies were feeding on wild thyme. Photographing them was sometimes a bit risky as the thyme was growing on the edge of the path and the slopes were very steep.....one wrong move and my camera with tripod could have been gone.

This is the result of lying down like a bag of potatoes:

Canon 7D; tripod; remote release; 180mm, 1/250s at F10 and ISO160

Canon 7D; tripod; remote release; 180mm, 1/250s at F10 and ISO160

Wild thyme was also the favorite of an other little butterfly, the False Ilex Hairstreak (Satyrium esculi). The first time I was very eager photographing this Hairstreak. Later I found out that this was the most common butterfly in the Ardeche.

Canon 7D; tripod; remote release; 180mm, 1/125s at F9 and ISO160

Canon 7D; tripod; remote release; 180mm, 1/250s at F9 and ISO160

Meanwhile I processed all butterfly images and added a lot of new images and butterfly species to this website; please look here for the main updates.
Part III will follow soon!