Last summer there was a flower festival at Eymet (pronounced as French ‘aimer’), one of the Dordogne area’s picturesque bastide (fortified) towns. We thought the decorations were quite striking against the background of the old buildings.
Limeuil is just one of those pretty little Dordogne villages. notable for its dramatic location overlooking the confluence of the rivers Dordogne and Vézère. The bridge over the river Dordogne was asking for something to feature crossing over. The cyclists were first to appear. (Featured image.)
Next came the walkers.
And finally, a horse and rider.
I wasn’t quick enough to capture the 2CV!
What on earth is that butterfly doing on that jam buttee, I mused to myself, as I munched into my own. Then she-who-knows-a-lot-about-butterflies got really excited. It’s a PURPLE EMPEROR! Well, yes I did wonder if that might not be correct – it doesn’t look very purple, does it? But then apparently it is a female, and they aren’t purple.
Now, purple emperors usually swan around in the treetops and only come down to eat dung and rotting fruit – unlike most butterflies they don’t go for flowers and their nectar. So this was a most unusual event, and the females are even rarer than the males.
She stayed there awhile, sucking up jam, mostly with wings closed. They almost opened once.
Not a great shot, but then it is the first purple emperor I’ve ever knowlingly seen!
I double checked the jam – it was certainly not rotten.
It took a beautiful sunny day after a cloudy period, and out came the carpenter bees that had apparently disappeared in one of our favourite haunts, in the Dordogne region of France.
Because of their short mouth parts, these bees are most suited to quite open flowers.
What a wonderful contrast to these bright red flowers, and I never ceased to be amazed at just how furry are the bodies of many insects.
This post shows the benefits of just leaving a bit of land fallow, to become a wildflower meadow. What a profusion of butterflies and moths take advantage, including this five spot burnet moth!
There were some quite stunning azure butterflies in this meadow, but ‘all’ I managed to photograph was this common blue.
The underside is remarkably different from the top, which gives the prevailing impression of blue when in flight.
This silver washed fritillary was flitting around a sunny meadow in the Dordogne region of France.
Luckily, he stopped for a while, wings out. They usually don’t, not for long enough anyway!
Unusually, these butterflies lay their eggs in the bark of trees near to a food source.
A heatwave hits the Dordogne area where we are staying. It is over 30°C, unusual for the time of year, too hot for doing much but swim and cool down. But nature has her ways. By the Vézère river in the deep shade of overhanging trees is a refreshing oasis of green cool calmness.
This quick shot by zoom lens on auto gives an interesting perspective on the common blue butterfly, in that you can see the top side of one wing and the underside of the other.
Taken in Dordogne region of France late summer 2018. The butterflies here don’t seem to stay still long enough for closer than zoom lens.
This beautiful large blue damselfly is described as a banded demoiselle by Wikipedia, or banded agrion in our old butterfly book. By damselfly standards this is large, around 2 inches long. This one is a brilliant iridescent blue, they can be blue-green. The most distinctive feature is the large dark patch on the wing.
Seen commonly in Europe and Asia. This one paused conveniently by the River Vézère in the Dordogne region of France, late summer 2018.
We often see these large black carpenter bees in The Dordogne region – beautiful black insects seeking nectar from the flowers.
They have relatively short mouth parts, as you can see from the photos, so are only suited to certain types of flower.
Glancing at a quick web search, carpenter bees have a bit of a reputation of ‘nectar robbing’ by drilling holes in the side of petals and avoiding pollination, and of being a pest that can be a threat to houses and gardens by making holes for nests in the timbers. I guess there may be some truth in this, but they are solitary nesters, and could the problem be perceived in part because of their colour?
Photographs taken in the Dordogne region of France, September 2017
We occasionally get the odd hummingbird hawk-moth in Cheshire. They’re much more plentiful in the Dordogne. Just like a hummingbird, they hover over a flower and reach the nectar with that long proboscis you can see on the photos.
The insects, and particularly their wings, move so fast as they dart to and fro, they are difficult to photograph. The wings are usually in some state of blurr-dom. They beat at a frequency of about 85 per second, so practically the only way to get a clear picture of them in motion is to use electronic flash. Must try that sometime, although at the time the moths are flying it seems irrelevant, as it’s usually very sunny. Actually, I quite like the blurred effect – it seems more natural.
Photographs taken in Dordogne region, France, September 2017
As its name suggests, the speckled wood butterfly is often found near woodland. There are nice patterns on the wings and an unusual glint in six apparent eyes on the wings. These butterflies are much more prevalent in the Dordogne area of France than in Cheshire UK, probably because of the much greater tree cover.
Photograph taken in the Dordogne region of France, September 2017
This damselfly was just basking in the sun. The ones with vibrantly coloured bodies tend to be more striking, but the rather more muted body colouring here helps to show off those beautiful lace wings.
Photograph taken in the Dordogne region of France, September 2017
It took a while before I actually saw this great green bush cricket, nestling in the long grass by the side of a path. The camouflage is quite remarkable, which is probably why, although often heard, they are little seen. And look at those long antennae.
Picture taken in the Dordogne region of France, September 2017.
Next day, a grey heron was surveying his territory when we first looked out onto the River Dordogne over breakfast. He stood stock still, upright, as if checking out what was going on around.
Then he would begin to stalk fish, creeping like a cat after mice (featured image). Then the sudden pounce, and fish swallowed in a trice.
Later in the morning he’d gone, replaced by a couple of wading men, fly fishing. The predator who has usurped nature’s king beasts at the top of this and almost every food chain. No birds to be seen, all driven away by the intrusion.
Clearly, fly fishing is a skilled occupation and gets you into the heart of nature, an image spoiled for me on seeing a fag hanging from the lips of one of the fishermen.
And they did appear to throw back any fish caught – surely a minor form of fish torture.
Late afternoon the fishermen had gone. The wagtails returned, feasting on flying insects, a flock of goldfinches swarmed into bushes and onto rocks. The heron returned and resumed fishing.
Then we were supremely privileged by a rare royal visitor. A kingfisher appeared in trees on the opposite bank, then came down to a rock within camera range. He stood still, iridescent, intent. Then a sudden flash into the water, another fish swiftly swallowed. Then back on the rock, to repeat the process. Some days you are just blessed.
In a world overrun with humans shouldn’t we be giving back more of these still semi-wild places to their natural predators, while we still can?
The River Dordogne at Beaulieu is quite similar in a way to the River Ure at Redmire Force. Fast flowing, shallow water over a variety of stones and rocks.
Here too, wagtails are in abundance, no doubt attracted by the insects hovering over the water. Today I’ve seen yellow, grey and pied wagtails. They seem to go around in small groups, so there are usually a small number together. This one’s a pied wagtail.
As it happened, along came a Dipper, happily dipping into and out of the water – very difficult to catch a photograph other than with tail sticking up out of the water. This was the best I managed. 
I can't believe it! 