On the fourth day of being in Greece I saw my first False Apollo (Archon apollinus), a male, and some seconds later I saw the second one flying around. It was warm and sunny and they were very active. Making a decent photo of them was impossible as they like to sit low on the ground. After a beautiful day with lot of imperfect images I decided to come back two days later early in the morning. The larval foodplants of the False Apollo are Birtwort (aristolochia) species which are also the foodplants of the Southern and Eastern Festoon. Twice I found a roosting Southern Festoon (Zerynthia polyxena); the Eastern Festoon (Zerynthia cerisy) was an other story as I only saw male butterflies around noon which were rushing past.....without tripod I followed one and finally I have one shot: The Southern Festoon is a more lazy flyer, not that quick as the Eastern one, and much easier to photograph but like the False Apollo they like to sit on spots near/on the ground with a lot of disturbing elements around. After I had found the second roosting Southern Festoon I waited until he opened his wings.
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Finding the exact locations of the False Apollos (archon apollinus) took me a few days as I needed warmth and sunshine to see them flying. We had cold days (8 degrees max) with a lot of wind (force 5)....impossible to find the False Apollo. After being three days in Greece I finally found the first spot with at least 4 False Apollos flying around. Shortly after our arrival a mini-group (with a big butterfly net) arrived with the same goal....photographing the False Apollo. I took some 'shots' of a female of the False Apollo but not the kind of photos I'm longing for. Because this species is feeding from flowers low above the ground it's very difficult to make 'my kind of photo's' from this species without disturbing elements. As it was the first warm day a lot of other butterfly species were flying around too and I was happy to see two mating pairs of butterflies: After two hours the mini-group left this spot and we were alone again....sitting under a big tree we observed the butterflies the rest of the day and noticed that the False Apollo like to dive into the bushes of grass in the afternoon to survive the night. From the websites of two tour operators I learned that there would be a chance that one or both tour groups will return to this False Apollo spot the next day, so we choose a drive through the mountains to search for other spots....during this tour we found our first orchids:
During the winter I was longing that much for butterflies that my partner & I booked a trip to Greece to photograph spring butterflies. From reports which I found on the internet I learned that early April is a perfect time to find some nice species in the mountain area around Alexandroupolis. On the first day, discovering the hills and countryside around Alexandroupolis we noticed two little puppies running near the road. Later that day we saw them again just outside the village Avantas near some other poor and skinny dogs. Like a heavy car accident just happened....it was impossible to ignore this kind of skinny dogs....they needed help. We drove to a supermarket and bought our first big bag of dog food. Every day we drove to two, three our four spots with very skinny dogs and feed them. Some dogs were very shy but a few were very happy when we daily arrived and they greeted us very happy. On day 7 we found one of the little puppies dead....hit by a car and left dead on the street. I placed his dead body under a tree and with a lot of tears we said farewell to him. This first blog is not about butterflies but dedicated to the street dogs of Greece who all deserves a better life! Adopt.....don't shop!!!
Two days ago I noticed a Large Tortoiseshell high in a birch near a sunny forest path. Unfortunately he, or she, had no intention to come down. After a while I decided to continue walking and a few hundred meters later I noticed a second Large Tortoiseshell. Yesterday afternoon I was on the same place again and.....they had found each other! High in the birch they were sitting together enjoying the sun and from their behavior I learned that they were female and male. The female stayed high in the birch and liked the advances the male was making but not enough for copulation. After a while the male flew away, patrolling the forest path and a few times he was sitting low enough for some pictures (taken with my smartphone). It's nice to have this species back in the Netherlands but it's also worrying that I do see this species more than his little brother, the Small Tortoiseshell.
But I will not complain, it's a good starter of the butterfly season! Since days we have one storm after the other in The Netherlands. Eunice was a very heavy storm and in the evening I heard a tree falling down near the house. It was an old oak which had lost the majority of its top. After storm Eunice was gone I was out to see the damage and....to search for eggs of the Purple Hairstreak. Within one hour search I found 10 eggs on branches that lay on the ground. Unfortunately today it's too wet and stormy again outside to search for more butterfly eggs so I started to make plans and reservations for some butterfly trips this year. Again I will visit the Aosta - Gran Paradiso region this summer.....I can't wait to go back to this lovely mountain area and search alpine butterfly species.
It's almost time to say goodbye to 2021. Due to the pandemic my childeren missed for the second year in row a lot of school lessons and for my daughter it was in juli very exciting if she would pass her exam. Fortunately she graduated from high-school! Again the pandemic caused for a lot travel restrictions but luckily I was able to visit my house in the Vosges during the butterfly season and together with Frank & Gerard I made a trip to the Aosta valley region. 2021 was also a year of personal changes and farewells. Now I'm ready for 2022! I'm looking forward to new butterfly trips and positive energy! If possible, I would like to travel a few weeks during the summer trough the Aosta valley and other mountain area's. So fingers crossed that my 'boss' will be cooperative! I wish you all a very happy, healthy and positive 2022!
It's autumn outside and fortunately there are still butterflies to find. With sunny weather on a nearby rapeseed field I still see Peacocks butterflies and some Admirals, White Species and Speckled Woods. Yesterday I visited an area in Belgium again and I was very happy to found some Queen of Spain Fritillaries. With its large pearly spots the Queen of Spain Fritillary is one of the most beautiful butterflies for me. My wish was to capture a completely 'frozen' one.....unfortunately it was not cold enough. I hope that they will survive the next two (more rainy) weeks and that I can catch a frozen one early November. Yesterday I was happy with these two on flowering Sea Thrift.
Last weekend was perfect, beautiful sunny weather, a lot of butterflies and good company. On Friday evening I visited a small heath area together with a good friend to search for butterflies. We only found one species, the Small Copper, but fortunately we found enough of them. One was sitting perfect in the heather near the path and with my beanbag I was able to catch him with some sunlight just in time before the light disappered behind a thick wall of trees.....sometimes I'm longing for a chainsaw! On Saturday morning we returned to the same area, the area was shrouded in fog so we had enough time to photograph the Small Coppers. By the time the sun arrived the light was too hard so we went home for a good cup of coffee. On Sunday we met Frank & Gerard in Belgium again to search for the Queen of Spain Fritillary....more about it in my next blog!
After a busy period, yesterday it was time to go out and search for butterflies again together with Frank & Gerard which I had not seen since Aosta. Some sunshine was forecasted and we decided to visit an area in Belgium to search for the Queen of Spain Fritillary. Instead of sunshine it was dark grey and very windy. But, we can't complain as we found some beautiful fresh Queen of Spain Fritillaries: At the time we had some coffee & cookie on a nearby bench, the butterflies became active and flew around. After our break I tried to catch them with open wings. The heather was popular but I forgot how 'hard working' it was to catch them (with tripod) when they are active and to have a photo without disturbing grass stems in it. Our trip ended on a terrace with good coffee and a delicious 'Belgian vlaai'. Good company + nice butterfly species + delicious coffee and pie = the best package deal I can get!
It's unbelievable how quickly two weeks can pass by. Last Saturday Frank, Gerard and I left the Aosta - Gran Paradiso region with reluctance but with full memory cards. Aosta has the perfect mix of beautiful butterfly species and impressive mountain/valley landscapes and meadows full of alpine flowers. Despite the spots we visited were situated in the National Parc, the wild flower meadows were used by farmers with large groups of cattle and within a day all flowers (with caterpillars on it) were consumed by the hungry cows. On Sainfoin I found a lot of caterpillars of different blue species (mostly protected by ants); unfortunately they were all eaten by cows as after a day the complete meadow was empty/destroyed. Although I'm not a species 'hunter' I hoped to find some species during our trips like the Silvery Argus, the rare Piedmont anomalous Blue, the Meleager's Blue, the Alpine Argus or the Lofty Bath White.....except the Apine Argus we found them all!
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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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