Blog 2022 about butterfly photography by Johannes van Donge

Summer holiday Sardinie

This year we are celebrating our summer holiday on the Italian island of Sardinia. We have already seen some islands, but we have never been here. As far as butterflies are concerned, many special features fly here that can also be found in Corsica and Elba. Of course I would like to photograph all the butterflies, but since I have limited time to photograph, new species are my preference. Two butterflies occur on Sardinia which are not found on the other islands. These are the Sardinian Chalk Hill Blue - Lysandra gennargenti and the Sardinian Meadow Brown - Maniola nurag. Especially the Sardinian Chalk Hill Blue - Lysandra gennargenti seems to fly very locally and is rare. This will be the butterfly I definitely hope to take a photo of. After enjoying the sea and beach for a few days, I go out one morning to look for this butterfly. I have found a good place on the internet where I expect to have the best chance. The alarm goes off very early and in the dark I start my drive to this place. After about an hour and a half I arrive at dusk and start my walk up the mountain. The area is beautiful, but very dry and barren and the host plant is nowhere to be found. Once the sun is up, some Hipparchia neomiris - Corsican Grayling fly around me, but I don't bother taking a photo of them now.

Searching for the Sardinian Chalk Hill Blue - Lysandra gennargenti

In the meantime I have walked almost all the way around this point without seeing a blue spot. When I almost give up hope, I decide to walk to the steep part and to my surprise I come across a few butterflies here. This is the place I should have found an hour earlier, but it's still great that I found it. Fortunately, the butterflies are still quite calm and I can take some pictures at my leisure. I wait a little longer until they open the wings to take a picture of the top, but despite the sun this does not happen. After waiting for a while I give up and drive back to the family, happy with the result this morning.

Sardinian Chalk Hill Blue - Lysandra gennargenti

Later I thought about making a second attempt, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. Because it is super hot (38 degrees) we don't sleep optimally, so I'm glad we don't do much. We do visit a beautiful old ruin, the place is half overgrown with trees and a nice place for the Sardinian Meadow Brown - Maniola nurag. There are plenty of them flying around, and even though they are very busy at this temperature, I still make a neat picture. I don't want to spend much more time on this butterfly, but it's nice to have it in the photo anyway.

Sardinian Meadow Brown - Maniola nurag

In addition to the butterflies, there is also a special dragonfly to be found on the island, namely the Common Hooktail - Paragomphus genei. I'm going out another morning to visit 2 rivers. The first attempt doesn't work at all and I spend two hours in vain through a half-dried riverbed. The second place is very ugly. It is also an almost dried up river that runs under a viaduct. After a while of searching I find some dragonflies and there is exactly a Common Hooktail - Paragomphus genei among them. Every time I come close, the animal flies out of sight and because of the dense vegetation I cannot chase it. He comes by again a few times, but each time the animal flies away before I can take a good photo. After a while it gets so warm that I decide to stop and look for a terrace with the family. The only photo I take of this dragonfly is the picture below. It's quite a lost picture, but at least it's proof that I found it.

Common Hooktail - Paragomphus genei

Due to the enormous heat on the island, we head to the mainland in time. It's also great fun here, but there's no photography here. We end the holiday with a few days of Dolomites. What a beautiful area this is, with the highlight for us being a beautiful walk around the Tre Cime di Lavaredo.

Trekking around the Tre Cime di Lavaredo (Dolomieten)

17-07-2022 Maculinea teleius - Scarce Large Blue

This morning I went out with Jordi in time to look for the Maculinea teleius - Scarce Large Blue. We have tried quite often to take a nice photo of this butterfly, but never the photo I have in my head. Unfortunately that didn't work out this time either, but I was able to get a nice close-up. The dew was beautifully subtle, and the colors in the foreground and background really complete it.

Now I will definitely have to look for these butterflies again in the coming years to take the photo I have in my head, but I don't know whether that will be possible in the Netherlands. It was quite difficult to find just a handful of butterflies, and there were also surprisingly few flowers. Maybe I should look for a place abroad...

Maculinea teleius - Scarce Large Blue

02-07-2022 Heteropterus morpheus - Large Chequered Skipper

Had to get up very early to drive to the south of the country to photograph the Heteropterus morpheus - Large Chequered Skipper. I last saw this butterfly in 2017, and I already took a nice photo, but I hope to get more out of it. When I arrive at my destination it is still quite dark, but I start the walk because it is still a bit of a walk. The places where I found them five years ago while walking were now completely empty. I was starting to get a little worried, and the sun was starting to show as well. Until I find a few of these butterflies again in the same place where I took the photo five years ago. Everything is still covered in dew, and one of the butterflies is hanging on a beautiful flower. Because the sun is already up and shining on the background, it becomes a nice, fresh picture with striking colors. To my taste, it turned out to be a beautiful picture, despite the fact that it is a fathead.

Heteropterus morpheus - Large Chequered Skipper

22/26 may 2022 Southern France

In the afternoon Peter comes by to drive together towards the south of France. This time with the intention of finding the Euphydryas desfontainii - Spanish Fritillary. We start the journey in good spirits, and everything goes well, until we are already south of Paris and it was starting to get dark. The weather changes completely, and it really starts to become stormy. It's lightning non-stop and branches are blowing across the road. At a certain point I decide to stop for a while because it's just not familiar. Once the weather has calmed down a bit, we continue our journey and arrive at our destination the next morning. Of course we go out immediately and in good spirits we start a beautiful walk on the north side of the Pyrenees. We soon find the first butterflies, and for a moment we think we have already found the Euphydryas desfontainii - Spanish Fritillary, but it turns out to be full of the Euphydryas beckeri - Southern Marsh Fritillary. Officially, I think this is still a subspecies of the Marsh Fritillary - Euphydryas aurinia, but because these are so differently colored, I change it to Euphydryas beckeri - Southern Marsh Fritillary.

Euphydryas beckeri - Southern Marsh Fritillary

Around ten o'clock we finally got lucky. I walk between some bushes and accidentally bump into a butterfly that sits a little further away. It turns out to be a Euphydryas desfontainii - Spanish Fritillary, and the little bit of sun that peeks through the clouds also makes it open. Unfortunately, it is already an old creature, but it is of course great that we found this butterfly.

Euphydryas desfontainii - Spanish Fritillary

We then search some more, but we don't find anything special anymore. We'll have something to eat and then continue our search in another place. the place looks beautiful with beautiful rolling fields full of flowers. But here too, all kinds of butterflies fly, but not the species we are looking for. We trudge around all afternoon, but not much comes of making fotos.

Wonderful landscape

The next morning we return to the place where we started the previous day. We soon come to the conclusion that this isn't really going to work out. The weather has become even worse and rain is even coming. In order to still be able to do something, we decide to look a bit further north because the rain will be there later. We are looking for a place for the Polyommatus hispana - Provencal Chalk Hill Blue. Normally the difference between this butterfly and the Lysandra coridon - Chalk Hill Blue is not visible, but because we are so early there is only one option. So finally a certain Polyommatus hispana - Provencal Chalk Hill Blue. In the end we only find a handful of butterflies and here too it is heavily cloudy, so the butterflies sit quietly with their wings closed. All in all we were busy all day...

Polyommatus hispana - Provencal Chalk Hill Blue

The next morning we leave early because we have decided to drive towards Eastern France. We arrive at our destination completely exhausted and look for the Coenonympha hero - Scarce Heath. We have been very successful this time because most of the butterflies are still fairly fresh, and they are also flying in good numbers. It is of course a hassle to take a photo of this butterfly because they almost never sit still, but after a few hours of work we finally have a few good photos. Even though it is a boring brown butterfly, I think it is a beautiful creature.

Coenonympha hero - Scarce Heath

Once we're done, we forget the rest of our plans and continue towards the Eiffel in Germany. We will have a look here the next morning and then continue on home. The next morning we pack our things for the last time this trip and take another nice walk. I don't manage to take really nice pictures, but it is fantastic to see how many Boloria eunomia - Bog Fritillary are flying. After this we pack our things and drive back home. As far as I'm concerned, this was another successful trip.

Boloria eunomia - Bog Fritillary

02-05-2022 Pieris brassicae - Large White

This year I skipped the Oranjetips and looked for other whites. I have had my eye on a field near my house for years with a lot of Dandelions. Now that the weather was finally good and the dandelions had not yet been mown, I started looking for whites. I would have preferred the photo with a few more flowers, but butterflies never really cooperate... Yet it is again a picture that I am happy with.

Pieris brassicae - Large White