Jaime Rojo's Image

Jaime had witnessed the spectacular gathering of monarch butterflies before, but this time he had a permit to remain until dusk. ‘I had to run uphill chasing the last light, all the trees around me trembling with butterflies,’ says Jaime. The finishing touch came as one butterfly opened its orange wings, the rest of the colony filling the frame.

Every autumn, millions of monarch butterflies migrate nearly 5,000 kilometres from their breeding grounds to overwinter in Mexico. The sacred fir forests drip with insects gathering together for protection. But this remarkable event is threatened by the use of herbicides across North America, illegal logging and an increased frequency of winter storms.