Catching up with old friends in the South Charente

A few days in the South Charente at Boisjarzeau in late July provided the opportunity to catch up with some good friends. This included the large coppers in the small, damp meadow beyond the lake seen for the first time in 2018 and not found in 2020. Thankfully, a single female was on the water…

Vézère Valley, Dordogne

Plazac is a small but beautiful, medieval village in the Périgord noir in the south-west of the Dordogne; at its centre is an imposing church above a grid of narrow streets below. Plazac sits just to the north of the Vézère Valley with its pretty riverside towns such as Montignac, Saint-Léon-sur-Vézère and Les Eyzies. To…

Cotswolds Blues

1st July 2018 The large blue butterfly is not an obvious conservation icon; it is not a great looker nor is it very large or showy as it dashes low over chalk grasslands usually to settle inconspicuously. But the large blue presented one of the greatest and longest of wildlife conservation puzzles. Why for most…