Can rare 'blue ghosts' help Asheville rebuild?
If you walk quietly through the woods of western North Carolina any time from now until mid-June, you may catch a glimpse of an eerie sight: dozens, sometimes hundreds, of tiny blue lights floating silently along the forest floor.
These are Phausis reticulata, known as "blue ghost" fireflies; a rare species of bioluminescent beetle that can only be found in the Southern Appalachian mountains. Their emergence, and that of their flashy relatives Photinus carolinus, commonly known as the Smokies synchronous firefly, draws thousands of people to the area each spring.
Asheville, a small artsy city in North Carolina, is a key gateway for firefly watchers, offering access to nearby Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Pisgah National Forest, DuPont State Recreational Forest and a few other heavily wooded areas in western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee. But this year, the glow carries added meaning. In September 2024, the remnants of Hurricane Helene tore through the region, causing widespread flooding that destroyed homes and businesses and inflicted an estimated $53bn of damage across North Carolina. Though Asheville officially re-opened to visitors at the end of last year, tourist numbers have yet to rebound entirely.
Now, locals hope that this year's firefly season can help put the city back on the map.
"Fireflies are really important [to tourism here], and while we have sold out now for most of our experiences, that would have [usually] happened months ago," said Nicolle Will of Asheville Wellness Tours, which leads immersive firefly and wellness experiences. "We were still down 70% when we reopened in November, comparing it to the same period [in previous years]."
There are more than 2,400 firefly species around the world – at least 10 of which are native to this region – but blue ghost fireflies are the rarest. Like all fireflies, these tiny beetles use bioluminescence to attract mates. Blue ghosts, however, emit a continuous blue light instead of the more intermittent bright-green flashes of common fireflies. Synchronous fireflies, meanwhile, coordinate their flashes, temporarily lighting up the forests with their display. Fireflies have long been a major tourist draw here, as visitors from across the country and the world make the trip to witness this magical phenomenon for themselves.
Because of their popularity, the National Park Service holds a firefly viewing lottery for Great Smoky Mountains National Park as well as nearby Congaree National Park in South Carolina. This limits access to peak viewing sites in order to protect both the beetles and their habitat. Numerous local businesses also take advantage of the visitor boom, offering smaller group tours both in Pisgah Forest and on private land. These tours are usually booked out far in advance of the season – though that wasn't the case this year.
However, one reason for optimism is that the fireflies seem to have weathered the storm well. "The floods here caused a lot of human damage… a lot of damage to our homes, to our roadways, to our cities. But while there's a lot of trees that are down, those are small scale types of disturbances," said Jennifer Frick-Ruppert, a naturalist, writer and professor of biology and environmental science at Brevard College. "Over eons, there have been floods, there have been fires, there have been tree falls. It's when the forest gets removed… that's when the fireflies are gone."
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Despite their ethereal glow, these tiny beetles are anything but delicate. People who gathered them in jars as children might be surprised to know they're considered fierce predators in the leaf litter where they live. "They're like little sharks moving around in there," said Frick-Ruppert. They'll eat anything smaller than them that they can catch."
Even so, many species of fireflies are facing a massive decrease in numbers due to habitat loss, pesticides and global warming. Light pollution is also a major problem, especially for blue ghosts, as it can interfere with their mating rituals. That's why, Will says, it's important to follow the guidelines when visiting.
"[Blue ghosts are] super sensitive to light," she said. "If you're more familiar with [common] fireflies, they're blinking in the backyard, they don't care that your porch light is on. But [blue ghost] fireflies, if your phone screen lights up… they're like, 'nope'."
Though many of the beetles' hiding spots can be found online, Will encourages visitors to go with a local guide, both for a more enjoyable experience and to support recovery. "It's a huge morale boost to have people frequent our small businesses," she said. "Asheville [is] unique in terms of the concentration of locally owned businesses here. Almost anywhere you turn, you're going to be supporting someone who has been through this traumatic period. And what we do all day, every day, is share [our community] and hope to connect people more deeply to Asheville and the region."
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Telegraph
4 hours ago
- Telegraph
How over-tourism turned a chic Paris neighbourhood into a theme park
Michèle Barrière has had a lifelong love affair with Montmartre, living a stone's throw from the Moulin Rouge for the past 30 years. She has frequented its ivy-clad cafes and pastel houses for twice as long and has always embraced the changes to her beloved 'butte', as locals call the hilltop area with sweeping views of Paris. 'But enough is enough,' said the 72-year-old as she marched past souvenir shops and tour groups with her corgi, Valentine. 'Montmartre has become an amusement park, and we are the attractions. Soon they'll be throwing us peanuts,' she scoffed. 'It's Disneyland.' With its cobbled streets, windmills, vineyard, funicular railway, and bohemian history, Montmartre has long been popular with foreign visitors. The white-domed Sacré-Coeur basilica and the portrait artists of Place du Tertre have been a magnet for decades. But many among the district's 27,000 residents now say cohabitation with millions of tourists, who outnumber them 423 to one, has reached breaking point. Last year, the Sacré-Coeur was the most visited monument in France, ahead of the Eiffel Tower, with 11 million visitors. Montmartre now has an even denser tourist zone per capita than Venice. 'It has got totally out of hand. I have nothing against tourists per se, but now my prevailing feeling is one of hostility,' said Ms Barrière, an author of historic and culinary detective works. 'Sometimes I can't even reach my front door due to these hordes.' To prove her point, she shooed a tour group coming up the Rue de l'Abreuvoir with a royal wave as if they were pesky pigeons. Valentine, the corgi, looked on placidly. Eric Durand, a photographer, resident and member of the Association for the Defence of Montmartre and the 18th Arrondissement, said tourism had gone into overdrive since the end of the Covid lockdowns. 'Before, it was mainly felt on weekends when the weather was nice. Since the end of the pandemic, and even more so since the Olympic Games [last summer], it's been like this all year round,' referring to the crowds of tourists outside his home. He said the influx of tourists started with the 2001 cult movie Amélie. Tourists continue to flock to the Café des Deux Moulins, where scenes showing the heroine at work were shot. The Netflix series Emily in Paris brought even more tourists, who seek out sites that feature in the show such as La Maison Rose restaurant, or the Wall of Love in a garden off the Place des Abbesses with 'I love you' written in a myriad of languages on ceramic tiles. 'We saw it on the show and on TikTok so we thought it would be fun to come,' said Jen Park, a New Yorker who posed with her husband Bruce in a pit-stop during their trip to attend a wedding in Paris. Then last year, the Paris Olympics brought the road bike race to Montmartre with images beaming around the world of cyclists hurtling up Rue Lepic with a crowd of 55,000 cheering them on. As if that wasn't enough extra publicity, on Sunday July 27, the final stage of the Tour de France will make a detour via Montmartre for the first time ever, before riders finish on the Champs-Elysées. Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, personally announced the news. 'It's obviously great for business, but I do understand local residents' gripes about the number of people,' said Julien Ogeard, the 34-year-old manager of Le Nazir, whose boss is a cycling fan and is thrilled the Tour will pass by their cafe. 'My fear,' said Mr Durand, 'is that the tourists are now moving down the hill and saturating other areas, particularly Abbesses, which has become one long line of tourist terraces.' He added: 'We already had one amusement park at the top, now we risk having a second below. 'Montmartre is losing its soul. I'm thinking of moving out, and I'm not the only one.' Revolt has been brewing since the recent introduction of new traffic restrictions. There are fears it will force families to leave, and drive small shops that serve residents, such as butchers and greengrocers, out of business. Meanwhile, they say gas-guzzling tourist sidecars and Citroen 2CVs continue to hurtle down cobbled streets, scaring people. Others complain about rocketing real estate prices, with flats selling for up to €15,000 (£13,000) per square metre. Tourist rentals, meanwhile, are pushing out local families, who are leaving en masse. Between 20 and 30 per cent of properties are Airbnb listings, 'and that's not counting undeclared rentals,' said Brice Moyse of Immopolis agency and president of the Lepic-Abbesses shopkeepers' association. 'In the neighbourhood, long-term rentals have disappeared,' he told Le Monde newspaper. In recent months, banners have appeared in windows with messages such as 'Forgotten residents!', 'Let the Montmartrois live!' and 'Behind these façades there are people'. But also, on school buildings: 'No to class closures!' 'It's the same problem across Paris: the socialist town hall takes decisions without ever properly consulting residents,' said Béatrice Dunner, a translator who has lived in the neighbourhood since 1976. As president of the Association for the Defence of Montmartre and the 18th Arrondissement, she is drawing up a white paper she hopes the candidates the city's mayoral elections next year will adopt. She said Amsterdam, Barcelona and Majorca were models. Ms Dunner's proposed measures include higher tourist taxes on hotels and tougher regulations and checks on tourist accommodation, as well as limiting tourist group sizes. Other options are a ban on tour guide intercoms and pre-empting more commercial leases to avoid yet more shops selling Chinese-made Emily in Paris berets. 'We also need to decide, at the national level, whether we want yet more tourists,' Ms Dunner added. Last year, the Paris region welcomed 22.6 million visitors. In one bastion of resistance, at La Cave des Abbesses, a group of residents popped the cork off a bottle of crémant de Bourgogne and handed out glasses of red as the clock struck the aperitif hour of 6pm. 'We still meet up and it is still a life for locals, but look around, there used to be three bookshops, a sweetshop for kids from the local school, a drugstore. Now they're all brand stores. They're the only ones who can pay the rent,' said Sabine Bouillet, who works in a tea shop. 'I'm not happy at all,' said Olivier Boukhobza, 36, a resident who works for Le Vrai Montmartre (The Real Montmartre), which creates profiles of locals. 'The real acceleration came in the past five years with the rise of influencers and Instagrammers who post from Montmartre and make it a must-see location.' 'We need to find the right balance between tourists, locals and those who work here. Right now, it's the tourists who have the upper hand.'
BBC News
7 hours ago
- BBC News
How to holiday safely this summer under the Mediterranean sun
The Mediterranean is synonymous with sunshine, but intensifying heatwaves are spoiling holidays and even claiming lives. Here's how you can still enjoy its stunning destinations – safely. Georgia Fowkes considered herself a seasoned traveller. As an advisor for Altezza Travel, she was used to navigating sweltering environments, from East Africa to Southern California. But surrounded by whitewashed buildings and ancient ruins in Greece while dripping with sweat, she was miserable. "A European heatwave hits differently," she said. "The kind [of heat] that cancels your plans, fries your brain and makes you rethink why you booked a rooftop hotel in July." In recent years, many of the Mediterranean's iconically sunny destinations like Italy, Greece, France and Spain have become increasingly besieged by devastating heatwaves, leading unsuspecting tourists to come up with creative solutions to keep cool."Our hotel had AC technically, but it groaned like a dying fan and gave up by mid-afternoon," said Fowkes. "The tap water came out warm. There were no blackout curtains. I tried sleeping with a wet towel on my chest and a bottle of frozen water under my knees and still woke up dizzy. At one point, I moved my pillow to the stairwell and lay on the tiles like a Victorian fainting lady because that was the only surface remotely cool." Travellers wandering through the Mediterranean's winding alleyways and descending on its turquoise seas this summer have found little reprieve; several scorching heatwaves have already brought record-busting temperatures, leading to a spike in heat-related health problems and even deaths across Europe. "The line of the tropics has literally moved," explained Nick Cavanaugh, a climate scientist and founder of Sensible Weather, a climate risk technology company. "There are all these circulation patterns around the world and the ones that surround the tropics are actually growing." More extreme temperatures are predicted across southern Europe this weekend, just as the European holiday season comes to its peak. Dr Olalekan Otulana, a doctor at Cassiobury Court in the UK feels that tourists may be particularly susceptible to overheating, as many of the activities that travellers enjoy on holiday, such as walking tours through cobblestoned villages, long nature hikes and wine tastings, can exacerbate heat-related illnesses. "Extreme heat can be deceptively dangerous," he said. "Especially when people are on holiday and naturally more relaxed about their usual routines." Short of taking your summer holidays further north, here are some expert travel tips for enjoying the Mediterranean sunshine – safely. Choose your accommodations wisely It's not uncommon to find businesses, Airbnbs and even train stations in southern Europe that are completely without air conditioning – a fact that might take many non-European travellers by surprise. "Electricity has always been very expensive in Italy," said Andrea Moradei, founder of Vinarium, a Florence-based wine and culture tourism company. "We all grew up trying to conserve energy. You learn from a young age to only keep the windows open from late evening until 21:00. You use shutters and curtains [to keep cool during the day.]." Moradei recommended that travellers to southern Europe choose accommodations that stay cool naturally – like historical structures made of stone or brick, which were designed to absorb heat during the day, or hilltop lodgings that feature exterior shutters and cross ventilation for night-time air flow. Do as the locals do – relax after lunch The hours after lunchtime are often the hottest of the day, which offer travellers an invitation to embrace their inner Mediterranean and take a siesta, or break. "As [we do] in many Mediterranean countries, try to limit your activities in the afternoon," Moradei advised. "You can't fill your days with so many different activities because it's too hot. Take a cue from the locals… let some of the hours of the day slip away." In Spain, Italy and Greece, many shops and restaurants close after lunch (typically until 17:00) while residents retreat to the quiet of their homes. Hanging out in your hotel may seem like a waste of precious holiday time, but even a quick power nap can improve your stamina; crucial when dealing with debilitating heat. Taking a siesta doesn't have to mean sleeping, either. In Italy, the lazy post-prandial hours are referred to as the pausa pranzo (lunch break) and are seen as a way to recharge during a demanding day and, on weekends, digest an epic lunch. Catch up on your reading or plot your next meals. Smart sightseeing While it's tempting to pack in as many activities as possible on holiday – especially if you only have a few days abroad – experts recommend adopting a leisurely, energy-conserving pace and prioritising indoor activities during the worst heat of the day. When Whitney Haldeman – founder of Atlas Adventures, a luxury travel group for women – faced extreme heat on one of her trips to southern France, she said the group "shifted sightseeing to earlier in the morning, prioritised long lunches in spots with shade or aircon, built in daily rest time and leaned into slower, more sensory experiences: like wine tastings in cool cellars or floating in the hotel pool." Museums and historic churches are generally well-ventilated, so you can still come face to face with ancient relics and religious treasures without putting yourself at risk. Know the signs of heatstroke Nothing spoils a holiday like an unexpected visit to an emergency health clinic, so recognising the danger signs of heat exhaustion can be crucial. "With heat exhaustion, people may notice feeling dizzy, excessively sweating or feeling nauseous," said Dr Otulana. "If it progresses to heat stroke, symptoms become more serious and can include confusion and loss of consciousness as well as severe headache. There can also be a lack of sweating despite feeling hot. The body's temperature regulation system essentially shuts down and their temperature can rise above 40C, which risks organ damage." Otulana advises that travellers drink water regularly, even if they're feeling well. "Hydration is critical," said Dr Otulana. "So, maintain consistent fluid intake throughout the day." Haldeman recalled how her tour group frantically sought relief during their French holiday. "Hydration tablets, portable fans and breezy natural fabrics became essential," she said. "One guest brought a battery-powered fan we all envied by day two [of our trip]." It may be tempting to brush off heatstroke warnings – particularly if you are visiting the Mediterranean expressly to enjoy its famous sunshine. But "extreme heat hijacks your whole trip", Fowkes cautions after her own bout with the region's extreme weather. "I [don't] care how pretty the view is – everyone did the same shuffle: find mist machines, hide in grocery stores, count down the hours until after dark. We weren't sightseeing. We were surviving." --
Telegraph
8 hours ago
- Telegraph
Fly-tipping travellers occupy seaside town and ‘dump nappies in sea'
A seaside town in Somerset has been occupied by a group of 'fly-tipping travellers' who have been accused of throwing full nappies into the sea. Burnham-on-Sea, which has a population of around 20,000, saw 15 caravans arrive on July 13, causing 'significant anxiety' for residents. Pensioner Chery Boley said the travellers 'threw nappies over into the sea' and said they had left 'tyres, fridges and human waste' near their campsite. 'It makes my blood boil,' she added. 'We live by the law. We have a caravan – if we parked it here, we'd be kicked out immediately.' Nine caravans are currently parked on the town's southern esplanade, with locals people saying vans had also come and gone during that time. Pat Baldock, also retired, said: 'I'm not angry with them as people. I'm worried, when they get to stay as long as this, that it makes the area seem like an easy place to park up. Then they'll come every spring, every autumn, and think, ooh, look how easy it is to pitch up here. 'But I'm angry when they stay here and they tear up the gardens.' 'Havoc for all our small businesses' There have been reports of 'in-fighting' at the encampment. One local, speaking anonymously, said that he understood 'the families had a fight' recently, saying that there was a 'car with its whole windscreen smashed up' and that everyone in the area had been 'watching it from the local pub'. The arrival of the travellers coincides with the start of the summer holidays, when many holidaymakers are expected to flock to the area. It has caused significant concern for local businesses. A representative of Burnham's tourist information centre said: 'I've been working here for 14 years, and it's definitely getting worse. They're coming more often, staying longer, and it's havoc for all our small businesses.' Ashley Fox, the local Conservative MP, accused Liberal Democrat-run Somerset council of being 'too slow' to remove the travellers. 'People in Burnham are rightly frustrated,' he said. 'These incidents keep happening, and too often the response from the council is far too slow. Our local traders rely on the summer season to make a living, and they deserve better than this.' Locals say they had been told the caravans will be 'moved on' on Saturday. Cllr Federica Smith-Roberts, Somerset council's cabinet member for communities, said the authority shared 'people's frustration regarding the process' and that the council issued a notice to leave 'at the earliest opportunity after relevant forms are completed'. The earliest available date local magistrates could hear the council's plea for a removal order was July 25. If that motion is accepted, the court will then allow the local authority to tell the travellers to leave. If they do not then do so, bailiffs may be required to move them on.
