The hunted Dutchie part I

During the Christmas holiday I decided to give myself a special Birthday gift…the Lycaena dispar batavus; it was 17 years ago that I visited the area and took a photo of this rare species. I booked a long weekend and I was curious if I should find and photograph this rare butterfly species again.
​​After arrival my partner and I visited the area where I have seen lot them in 2008; unfortunately I did not find one single Large Copper. As a photographer friend was in the area too I asked him to give me a clue and it was not hard to find the right spot as it was crowded with photographers, bikes and cars. I took my binoculars and walked to the crowd which were running up and down with big lenses to catch this species. I saw two butterflies but this was not the way I like to photograph butterflies so I decided to leave and we made a walk somewhere else to find another spot; unfortunately we didn’t.
After our early dinner I decided to return to the hot-spot but again a lot of people were still there. I wanted to drive past but I noticed that they were photographing a mating couple…..so I stopped, took my tripod and camera and asked if I could join the club. Everybody was friendly and I started photographing the two Large Coppers; unfortunately it was very windy and my position was not the best one to have them both sharp. In the beginning more cars, people were stopping but after a while everybody needed to go home for dinner….so suddenly I was alone with two mating Large Coppers…this was THE birthday present I dreamt of:

Large Copper - Lycaena dispar batavus