28-12-2010 - Snow

Finally it's really winter in The Netherands and there is snow everywhere. Normally only the ground has some snow, but because of the wind also trees are covered with snow. I jumped in my car to find a place where those white trees could be photographed. In a beautifull place not so far from my home I found a great spot. To me this looks so not like The Netherlands. It looks like viewing the trees through white curtains.

Hoog Soeren, The Netherlands
Hoog Soeren, The Netherlands




25-09-2010 - Autumn

Autumn again, this means that the macro photo season is about to be done for the year. Luckily there is also the option to photograph some landscapes. During cold nights with no clouds, there is often a change to get some nice ground mist.

Radio kootwijk, The Netherands
Radio kootwijk, The Netherands


Another big advantage of the autumn and winter is that the sun isn't rising so early. So when there is an opportunaty for good weather conditions and I have some time, I try to go out. Mostly neer my home, but also various times to the Posbank. It's such a beautifull place, but most times conditions won't turn out the way I hope. Of course, if you go often enough, there will always be a moment when conditions are ok.

Posbank, The Netherands
Posbank, The Netherands


From now onwards weather expectations are pretty bad, so probably no more pictures soon...


12-08-2010 - Hungary

Tuesday July 27th when I was done working at 17:00, I picked up Jordi Strijdhorst and my father-in-law to drive to Hungary. The weatherforecast was not very promising but we gave it a try. When we arrive the next morning at 05:30 at our destination, the waether is indeed not very nice, it's windy with a lot of clouds. We do find a few butterflies, but it's impossible to take pictures. We were also not able to find the Colias chrysotheme - Lesser Clouded Yellow that I was hoping to find here. After searching for a few hours without any results we take the car and drive more to the south. The weather is much better here, and after quite a walk I manage to find one Colias chrysotheme - Lesser Clouded Yellow. I was only able to take one picture before it flew away again. After this little success we continuw our journey to the middle/nord east of Hungary.

Colias chrysotheme - Lesser Clouded Yellow
Colias chrysotheme - Lesser Clouded Yellow


We got some reasonble sleep (till 04:00) in a nice old little house, and started our next search. This time we are looking for the Polyommatus admetus - Anomalous Blue. Once we arrive at the correct spot, it doesn't take long to find two worn species. Next to this, there are also multiple Cupido decolorata - Eastern Short-tailed Blue. Once we are done photographing it's time for a short siesta, and my father-in-law decides to go fishing. Together with Jordi we inspect the place we want to visit the next day. We don't find very special butterflies, but there are plenty of them.

Our house for the night
Our house for the night


Next day waking up again at 04:00 to start our search. Luckily we woke up on time, because it's quite hard to find any sleeping butterfly. Just before the sun rises, we find a spot where multiple butterflies are resting. Once the sun is up and it quickly becomes hot we search for places with drinking butterflies. We are able to find some of these places with lot of blues, skippers and even some Iphiclides podalirius - Scarce Swallowtail. I never took so many pictures inn such a short time, it was great!

Around 14:00 it's already time to pack our stuff and start our trip back to The Netherlands. It's a very difficult trip while we are so tired. Especially the second part of the ride, we stop at every gas station for coffee, but eventually we manage to get home savely (at 07:00 in the morning)

Covered in butterflies
Covered in butterflies



23-07-2010 - Switserland - Austia

From July 5th till 7th I travel to Switserland and Austria to find some butterflies and damselflies. The first place is difficult to find in the dark so we only arrive at 04:00 in the morning. We sleep for one and a half hour in the car and then start our search for the Euphydryas intermedia - Asian Fritillary. Unfortunately we don't see this butterfly, even after a few hours of searching. But there are plenty of other great butterflies to photograph like the Agriades glandon - Glandon Blue. At noon we drive to the Saas valley and setup our tent. When we are done, we go for a long walk up the mountains looking for Euphydryas cynthia - Cynthia's Fritillary. A great walk, but also this time without any luck.

In the mountains
In the mountains


Tuesday morning we started in a valley nearby. We found some sleeping Parnassius apollo - Apollo and Lycaena virgaureae - Scarce Copper. Once we were done here, we packed the tent and drove in the direction of Simplon. In this area we searched the rest of the day but without many photo's. Only nice butterfly was a worn Oeneis glacialis - Alpine Grayling. After a long walk we returned to the car to trave to Austria.

Drinking a beer
Drinking a beer


After a short night of sleep in the car we started our search for the Coenonympha oedippus - False Ringlet. This was of course also much more difficult as expected and we only found one very old one. At some point we thought to have found a nice fresh Coenonympha oedippus - False Ringlet, but in the car we found out it was just a Aphantopus hyperantus - Ringlet. To compensate this, we were surprised with a nice fresh Maculinea nausithous - Dusky Large Blue. Around 08:00 we continued to look for the Coenagrion hylas - Siberian Bluet. The books describe that this rare damselfly only shows up at the lake around noon. This was exactly the case for us, and we found multiple Coenagrion hylas - Siberian Bluet flying around. Getting a picture was a different story, but in the end I was able to get a decent picture. Around 14:00 we were done and started our journey back home.

Coenagrion hylas - Siberian Bluet
Coenagrion hylas - Siberian Bluet



02-07-2010 - Germany

During the month June I traveled to Germany three times. The first time to wend to the Eifel searching for the Lycaena helle - Violet Copper. Probably because of the bad weather I was only able to find two butterflies. The Boloria eunomia - Bog Fritillary was not yet flying, or I was not able to find them.

Lycaena helle - Violet Copper
Lycaena helle - Violet Copper


The second trip was planned to find the Lycaena hippothoes - Purple-edged Copper. The weather was great, and there were sufficient butterflies to find. After a few hours, I managed to get some nice picture of both the male and the female Lycaena hippothoes - Purple-edged Copper.

Lycaena hippothoes - Purple-edged Copper
Lycaena hippothoes - Purple-edged Copper


The third time was planned for the Coenagrion mercuriale - Mercury Bluet. The numbers were quite low, but managed to get a few pictures of this rare damselfly. We also tried to find the Coenagrion ornatum - Ornate Bluet, but we didn't find any.

Coenagrion mercuriale - Mercury Bluet
Coenagrion mercuriale - Mercury Bluet


Now I'm slowly going to prepare for a few days in the Alps. Hope to leave Sunday July 4th for a few days.


10-05-2010 / 24-04-2010 - Holiday Corfu - Greece

This year we planned a short holiday to Corfu, Greece for the May holiday.

Corfu
Corfu


Of course I didn't take many pictures during this holiday but did spend some time to photograph. Normally I prefer butterflies, but this time I hoped for a special damselfly. On this island the Pyrrhosoma elisabethae - Greek Red Damsel could be found. I already did some searching from home for possible places with water where this damselfly could be found. When I arrived at the place it was covered with brambles and almost impossible to enter the waterside. After a lot of strugling and visiting the same place two times I finally managed to get some reasonable pictures. Even a picture that clearly shows the difference between this damselfly and the regular one.

Detail Pyrrhosoma elisabethae - Greek Red Damsel
Detail Pyrrhosoma elisabethae - Greek Red Damsel


It was also a nice surprise to find and photograph a Lestes parvidens - Eastern Willow Spreadwing. It's quite similar to the Dutch cousin, but still a new species to add to my list.

During this week I used one morning to look for butterflies in the mountains. Didn't find much special, except for a worn Papilio alexanor - Southern Swallowtail. Still a great find, and happy I found it but too bad it was so old already. Afterall again a great holiday.


09-05-2010 - Excursion Epitheca bimaculata - Two Spotted Dragonfly

I joined an excursion to find the Epitheca bimaculata - Two Spotted Dragonfly in Frace, just near the belgium border. It was still not as easy as expected, and numbers were much lower than expected, but we still managed to find a few of these dragonflies. After this short trip I quickly returned home to prepare for my holiday.

Epitheca bimaculata - Two Spotted Dragonfly
Epitheca bimaculata - Two Spotted Dragonfly



15-04-2010 - Anthocharis cardamines - Orange Tip is flying again

Finally I took the first photograph of the year again. It took some effort to get out of bed that early again, but I'm happy I did. The weather was great, and I must say that I'm quite happy with the result as well.

Anthocharis cardamines - Orange Tip
Anthocharis cardamines - Orange Tip