As a nature lover, I always look around me for butterflies and caterpillars. It doesn’t matter whether I’m walking to the train from my house to go to work or on a walk in nature. Previously, I had only driven to specific nature reserves in the Netherlands, but since 2023, I have also travelled abroad with a small group of experts. With two very knowledgeable guides from Goldcrest Nature Tours, you go out for beautiful butterflies that are specific to an area. These are very educational trips where you are helped to pay attention to specific characteristics for identifying all kinds of species.
Butterflies in the Swiss Alps (2024)
In a beautiful, flowery environment in the Swiss Alps, we visited several alpine meadows in the Simplon and the Arolla valley for a week. It is exceptional how many beautiful flowers, plants, herbs, and grasses are present here in the summer months. You can fully enjoy nature, with stunning views of the mountains and the valleys. A selection of butterflies, moths and micro moths. An incredible journey with 80 species of butterflies, of which 34 were new species for my list. In addition, 14 new moth species and 15 new species of micro moths (video editing E.H. Schakel)
Butterflies in the Maritime Alps (2025)
While preparing for my trip to the Maritime Alps, I set myself the goal of spotting and photographing at least several species of the skipper, the Southern Swallowtail, Cleopatra and the Apollo butterfly. That goal was achieved, but the trip yielded a few more remarkable sightings.
Besides the Dewy Ringlet at a very high altitude, almost 2,800 meters, the extremely rare Cynthia’s Fritillary and the Scarce Fritillary were highlights of the trip. A trip to the Piedmont region in Italy and Mercantour National Park in France. These beautiful areas are surrounded on several sides by the Alps, where you can walk through a diverse landscape of mountains, valleys, rivers, and streams, amidst an oasis of flowers, plants, and herbs that attract many butterflies and moths. The trip yielded 121 butterfly species, including 34 new ones for my list.
This year, for the first time, I also brought my own LED lighting system to attract moths. This yielded 80 species of moths and micro-moths, including 37 new moth species and eight micro-moth species.
