Blog 2023 about butterfly photography by Johannes van Donge

19/20-05-2023 Tour Northern France and Germany

We make a small tour through Northern France and Germany. Our plan is to first photograph Green Underside Blue in the South of France, and then drive on later to look for Marsh Fritillaries. Of course, nothing comes of our plan and there is no Green Underside Blue to be found. When we arrive at the Marsh Fritillary spot, it turns out that there are no more than a few Glanville Fritillaries here. Of course we take some pictures but I'm not really enthusiastic about it. At the end of the day we have to make a decision about what we want to do the next morning. Because there is little special to be found here, we decide to drive towards Germany to look for Lycaena helle - Violet Copper. Here too it is not easy, and we do not find any sleeping butterflies, but once the sun rises above the trees there are plenty of butterflies. We spend the whole day taking pictures with these beautiful little butterflies.

Lycaena helle - Violet Copper

A little later in the day when it starts to become a bit cloudier, I also get the chance to photograph a Lycaena helle - Violet Copper with a beautiful shine on it's wings. Who knows, maybe next year we'll try again to see if I can do better...

Lycaena helle - Violet Copper