Quercy Photo Holidays

Quercy Photo Holidays Photography Holidays in Southern France with on-site accommodation, wildlife hides, woodland, meadows and stunning local scenery.

Workshops and tuition available with resident pro photographer Simon Phillpotts. Simon & Sarah Phillpotts

Simon has worked for over a decade as a Professional Wildlife Photographer and Guide. Originally based in the Yorkshire Dales, Simon established two highly successful photography hides which focused on Red Squirrels and woodland birds, as well as running regular workshops for other species th

roughout North Yorkshire. Sarah has a background in biology, and is a keen naturalist, with a wide-ranging interest in European plant and animal species. Based on a former farm, set in over 30 acres (12 hectares) of wildlife-filled oak woodland and meadows, Simon and Sarah have established a new nature experience / photography business with luxury on-site accommodation in the stunning Parc Naturel Régional des Causses du Quercy in Southern France. Simon's images have been Highly Commended in the British Wildlife Photography Awards on several occasions and shortlisted in Bird Photographer of the Year. They have featured in national newspapers including the Telegraph, Times, Guardian, Daily Record, Daily Mail, Sun and Mirror, the local press in Yorkshire and the North-East and a variety of books, calendars and magazines. On TV he has appeared on BBC's Countryfile with Julia Bradbury, Inside Out (North East and Cumbria), Escape to the Country and ITV 1's The Dales with Ade Edmonson. Simon is an f-stop Brand Ambassador and currently uses OM-System (Olympus) camera equipment.

Hey photographers, can I interest you in a trip to Southern France? These photos show just a glimpse of what we can off...
22/01/2025

Hey photographers, can I interest you in a trip to Southern France? These photos show just a glimpse of what we can offer you from our French home near Cahors. We have award-winning accommodation set in thirty acres of nature filled woodland and meadows, with some of Europe's most stunning landscape close by. We have bird and mammal hides, water and meadows with thousands of species of insect and butterfly, dark skies, great trails for camera trapping, twenty species or orchid (just on our land) and amazing limestone geology and river valleys. We'd love to welcome you here! Hope you enjoy the photos!

Lots of lovely in the garden and around our land at the moment. No hide required as they are always so confident and ...
20/01/2025

Lots of lovely in the garden and around our land at the moment. No hide required as they are always so confident and some lovely lighting to be enjoyed too. It's a struggle to keep my feet warm as we must be getting a bit soft here in France now though!

A Great Spotted Woodpecker taking a bath at one of our reflection pool hides here in Southern France. We have seen over...
04/01/2025

A Great Spotted Woodpecker taking a bath at one of our reflection pool hides here in Southern France. We have seen over forty species of bird at our hides, with many species which are hard to see in the UK. With two award winning gîtes set in an oak forest, we can offer a memorable and peaceful holiday for photographers and wildlife enthusiasts.

Its been a while since I've posted anything Red and Squirrely so to remedy the situation here's a backlit example. We'r...
03/01/2025

Its been a while since I've posted anything Red and Squirrely so to remedy the situation here's a backlit example. We're seeing lots of activity in the trees around the house at the moment and it won't be long before the breeding season chasing around begins!

Probably my favourite image of 2024 as it's a shot I didn't get during thirteen years in the Yorkshire Dales. Instead I...
31/12/2024

Probably my favourite image of 2024 as it's a shot I didn't get during thirteen years in the Yorkshire Dales. Instead I had to move over a thousand kilometres south to see and photograph the Northen Lights! Clicky for a much bigger view. Happy New Year all!

Sorry for the lack of posts recently. We have been concentrating on a whole range of projects here and our social media...
30/12/2024

Sorry for the lack of posts recently. We have been concentrating on a whole range of projects here and our social media pages have been a little neglected as a result. Here's a photo of one of our most common little birds to get us back on track. The Marsh Tit is present all year round and they make great little subjects. The glossy cap and call identify this bird as a Marsh Tit rather than the very similar Willow Tit and, despite the name, they are much happier in deciduous woodlands rather than marshes!

Sarah has just set-up a display of local glass creations by Pam Angus in our La Grange gîte. Guests can admire her work...
31/08/2024

Sarah has just set-up a display of local glass creations by Pam Angus in our La Grange gîte. Guests can admire her work and even make a purchase. Pam has a workshop locally which can be visited by appointment to see more examples of her stunning work. https://pamelaangus.com/

A brown hare keeping me company whilst I waited for Red Squirrels to turn up earlier this summer!
19/08/2024

A brown hare keeping me company whilst I waited for Red Squirrels to turn up earlier this summer!

Due to a client having to unavoidably cancel at the last minute, we now have two weeks available in our 'La Grange' Gîte...
15/08/2024

Due to a client having to unavoidably cancel at the last minute, we now have two weeks available in our 'La Grange' Gîte (nights 17th to the 30th August). Come and enjoy the peace, use our photography hides and visit some of France's most beautiful villages. Please get in touch if you are interested and please share if you can!

A crab spider waiting for it's next victim in our potager!
06/07/2024

A crab spider waiting for it's next victim in our potager!

Young Hawfinches are visiting the pool hides here now after what looks to be a good year for them. They are so aggressi...
02/07/2024

Young Hawfinches are visiting the pool hides here now after what looks to be a good year for them. They are so aggressive to other birds, even much larger ones, gaping their beak and closing it quickly to produce a strong clicking sound. Their colouration is also very different to the adult birds.

28/06/2024

It's not all photography for us, a hard day of cleaning ready for incoming guests. Thirty two degrees today so now enjoying a sundown dip in the pool watching the birds and butterflies.

A Marbled White in our potager garden. We're absolutely teeming with butterflies, moths, dragon and damselflies at the ...
25/06/2024

A Marbled White in our potager garden. We're absolutely teeming with butterflies, moths, dragon and damselflies at the moment!

A male Emperor Dragonfly in flight at our wildlife pond. We have so many different species to see at this time of year ...
20/06/2024

A male Emperor Dragonfly in flight at our wildlife pond. We have so many different species to see at this time of year but these Emperors are just that, the undisputed kings of the water.


I'm probably one of a very few people who will get excited about an image like this, but for me (and Sarah), this is wha...
18/06/2024

I'm probably one of a very few people who will get excited about an image like this, but for me (and Sarah), this is what we moved here for.

Our Owlflies (Libelloides coccajus) are usually on the wing from late April until late May, then that's it, no more until the following year. This year I noticed a few still fluttering around and it appears to be a later hatch of the same species. Why later? I don't know, but maybe the strange Spring weather (including some very strong frosts) delayed emergence of some adults from the larval stage.

However, whilst mowing a pathway through the meadows I noticed a different looking Owlfly which turned out to be Libelloides longicornis, a species we'd never seen before. After examining the various owlflies roosting last night I found at least a dozen of the new species, which have appeared from nowhere. They are lovely looking insects with more delicate wings than the coccajus species.

After capturing a few backlit images of them I saw one settle on a stem right above it's cousin species. I've never seen two owlflies share the same stem, as one usually disturbs the other. In addition, I've never seen two different owlfly species in one image. Fortunately, and despite a strong breeze, I managed to bag a few images with both species in the same plane of focus before a gust dislodged one.

A once in a lifetime image. I'm sure it won't grab the attention like a backlit puffin or red deer stag would, but to me this is way more special. To top the evening off we watched the Emperor dragonflies chasing Banded Demoiselles around the pond.

07/06/2024

In one of the hides with a client last night and this chap dropped in for a welcome bath after a warm day. A bit close for images though at less than a metre, with water splashing against the window! Sorry, not the best quality with my phone.

It's a little early in the year but can I say 'two Turtle Doves' 😆😆😆🌲☃️❄️ It's a real bumper year for these beautiful bi...
05/06/2024

It's a little early in the year but can I say 'two Turtle Doves' 😆😆😆🌲☃️❄️ It's a real bumper year for these beautiful birds here with lots visiting the hides at the moment.

A Black Veined White on a Pyramid Orchid. The butterfly was roosting on this low lying orchid (you can see all the tall...
29/05/2024

A Black Veined White on a Pyramid Orchid. The butterfly was roosting on this low lying orchid (you can see all the taller grasses behind) as these gave it some protection from overnight predation. There are lots of images on Instagram of butterflies posing perfectly on perfect orchids. We have twenty species of orchid and over sixty species of butterfly and roosting on orchids is pretty rare simply because the butterflies would leave themselves very exposed to bats for example. I believe many of these butterfly photography accounts are moving cold butterflies to favourable and unnatural locations. This is something I won't do.

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Quercy Photo Holidays, 2 Chemin Des Teyssonnières
Limogne
46260

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+33626342618

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It's not all photography for us, a hard day of cleaning ready for incoming guests. Thirty two degrees today so now enjoying a sundown dip in the pool watching the birds and butterflies.

In one of the hides with a client last night and this chap dropped in for a welcome bath after a warm day. A bit close for images though at less than a metre, with water splashing against the window! Sorry, not the best quality with my phone.

A boar 'nest' quite close to the house. The marcassin are tiny and really stripey, probably the smallest I've seen. Just a very distant view from the only spot I could get to without disturbing them. They are in a hollow against a wall so its a nice peaceful spot. I'm putting a hide out on a nearby trail shortly so hopefully will be able to get some images and footage when they start to explore!

A beautiful Aesculapian Snake we found exiting our composter today. About 1.2m long and very calm. This is a new species to us here, it's fascinating to come across such amazing creatures on the doorstep.

This little fella was moving above the ground in the direction of our napping cats. We quickly gathered him up and took him into the field well away from the house to carry on digging in safety. The front paws are incredibly powerful!

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