Les Papillons de France

In the Netherlands every square meter has its destination. Passing the border into Belgium or Germany the difference immediately is visible: small pieces of neglected land where mother nature is the boss!

France is, comparing to the Netherlands, a huge country with rough nature and a lot of national parks. Beyond that it is a paradise for nature (butterfly) photographers AND......they have good wine, croissants and cheese!
I really love France, especially the southern regions like the Ardeche, Cevennes, Dordogne, Drome, Tarn, Vercors, they have rough nature and the weather is good. Good weather = a lot of butterflies.
In France there are a lot of butterfly species and subspecies (about 240!) and I never have to search long to find a beautiful butterfly. Photographing them sometimes is a real challenge as the temperatures are often high (even early in the morning), the light is too hard or the butterflies are not doing what I wont. The Large Blue by example, they noticed me every time and were not be willing opening their wings :-(.

​The photo left is a Long-tailed Blue (Lapmpides boeticus) which is a very good flier so twice I found him within one hour after arriving in France and twice he flew away before I could photograph him decently.

​Besides butterflies, France has a lot of nature and wildlife to offer. I remember the evening when I was sitting in a chair (with a glass of wine) and the European Stag Beetles were falling on my head as they were awake.....or the two Long-Eared Owels with their 4 infants.....or the grey snake between my feet when I was wearing my flip-flops, fortunately it was a very frightened Grass Snake....or the Boar which was running in my direction when I was lying in the grass....or the tremendous amount of deers early in the morning..... I think that when I'm grey and old (actually I'm both) I will write a book about these special encounters!

Because I love France that much, I bought a house in France....in the Vosges region. For more french butterflies please also visit my pages Photo Gallery Vosges and/or Blog Vosges.

​In the following gallery you will find a mix of butterflies photographed in France:

For more butterfly images taken in France please also visit the chapter Ardeche, Dordogne, Luberon, Mercantour, Mercantour part II or Var (Gallery A - Z) or visit my Vosges gallery.