Méditerranean France

At the end of May, when our own garden is a beautiful sight, it's also a perfect time to stroll around in the nature reserves of Southern France. We visited the Luberon, the Camargue and the Narbonnaise en Méditerranée. All three worthwhile: blooming flowers in abundance, saltlakes and -mountains, thousands of flamingos and bee-eaters taking care of their off-spring.

Apart from all this beauty we were gladly surprised to discover species we had never seen before (Coccajus and European Roller) and southern variations of butterflies and dragonflies.

And by the end of the day there's always a nice restaurant, a tasty dish and a good glass of wine (or sangria in my case :-) in a friendly village.

The French countryside, a hospitable and Romanesque holiday destination!

Flamingo in the Camargue

Poppies in full bloom

Bush Cricket

Dried earth structure

Cactus (Opuntia) in bloom

Emerald Lizard

European Roller

Ascalaphus Coccajus!

The Narbonnaise Méditerranée

Xylocopa violacea

Salt mountains near Cruisson

Composite flowers

Western Clubtail with prey

Roussillon

Martinique!

March being a somewhat cold and wet month in Holland, it's very tempting to start summertime a bit earlier some place else. This year we flew to Martinique to enjoy Caribbean nature in all its beauty.
It's obvious that flora and fauna (and the people ;-) are happy in this kind of tropical weather with its high temperatures, refreshing showers and sultry winds.

As you can see we met with some amazing iguanas, pelicans, red billed tropicbirds, hummingbirds, dragonflies and crabs in the mangroves.

All in all an incredibly beautiful and relaxing experience!

Arizona and New Mexico in winter

In January I was in the happy situation to spend some quality time with my son. We chose to make a tour through Arizona because of its variety in landscapes. Apart from these impressive landscapes and colorful structures, we also experienced temperatures and weather from very pleasant to freezing cold. Especially the beautiful snowy rocks and mountains were a nice surprise!

Our great tour included the Grand Canyon, Colorado River, Monument Valley, the Painted Mountains, the Gila National Forest and the Bosque del Apache National (New Mexico). In the last mentioned area we saw and heard hundreds of cranes, which was also a wonderful experience!!

And in the unique Muybridge-style I captured my son in river-jumping-mood ;-)