After my Hunting Dragons tour, I’ve seen and photographed almost all dragonfly species on the Dutch list. The few I haven’t seen are either too vulnerable to visit or haven’t been seen in the Netherlands for years. Of course, there are the two species that I have seen and not photographed yet and there is always room for improvement, but finding new species will be difficult.
This raises the question: “What’s next?”

Now, I could start with a completely new species group. This will be a completely new challenge, with new ID- and photography difficulties. For me, the most logical group to focus on would be the butterflies. A group of colourful and attractive insects and group that I was interested in when I was younger. But somehow the attention for the group faded away a bit over the years.
Last week, I went to the southern parts of the Netherlands with a friend and we spent some time watching butterflies. Just like with dragonflies, there are several species of butterfly that can only be seen in the south of the country, like these Little Blues. It’s an interesting group indeed and I’ll have a look if I can get some nice pictures of these species as well.

But, am I really done with the Dutch dragonflies, now I’ve got pictures of nearly all species in the Netherlands? No, of course not. A fellow photographer always says that “when you think you’re done, you’re just half way”. There is much more to explore. During my Hunting Dragons-tour, I started to take pictures of the characteristic habitat of several species. This made me think it would be nice to make a series of photos which combines the two: the dragonfly and its habitat. Like the picture on top of this post. Wide-angle macro photography is a bit a new type of photography for me, but one that worth exploring. I did already some try outs with other species of insects (the dragonflies didn’t want to cooperate unfortunately).

Oh, and no worries. Even though I’m still stuck at home and is it likely that I won’t go for the high Arctic this year for the first time in 11 years (though I did cross the Arctic circle earlier this year), I will continue the Arctic species series soon again.