Butterflies love ivy

Image: Hamsterkiste

Butterflies

Day-flying butterflies are active during the day and rest at night. Their main features are:


  • They fly mainly in sunny weather.
  • Their wings are often brightly and strikingly colored to deter predators or help them blend in.
  • Butterflies that fly by day have club-shaped antennae, which are thickened at the tips.
  • They feed on nectar, which they suck from the flowers of various plants with their long proboscis.
  • The caterpillars of butterflies that fly by day usually eat the leaves of particular plant species, known as food plants.


Here are some examples of butterflies that fly by day and can be found in our area. In some regions they are abundant, while in others they are not found at all. This largely depends on whether there are habitats where their food plants grow.

Red Admiral

  • Size 50 to 65 millimeters
  • Found in Europe, North America, North Africa and New Zealand
  • They can be seen from June to October
  • They live in forests, fields, meadows and gardens.
  • They are migratory butterflies and often travel long distances.
  • The caterpillars feed exclusively on nettles

Comma butterfly

  • Size: 40 to 50 millimetres
  • Found in Europe, North Africa, and Asia
  • They live in gardens, along woodland paths and at the edges of woods
  • Caterpillars feed on the leaves of pussy willow, elm, nettle, gooseberry and currant plants

Painted lady butterfly

  • Size: 45 to 60 millimetres.
  • Found in Europe, North Africa, North America, Asia and Australia
  • They live in dry areas and wherever thistles grow.
  • Caterpillars like thistles, but they also like nettles.

Clouded Apollo

  • Up to 4 centimetres in size.
  • Found throughout Europe, but they have become rare. In Germany, they are found in the low mountain ranges and the Alps. 
  • Lives in areas of dry grassland, along woodland edges and in clearings.
  • Caterpillars feed mainly on common sorrel. Adult butterflies prefer wild thyme, yarrow, ground elder, valerian and ragwort.

Large Fox

  • Size: about 50 to 55 millimetres
  • They love warm weather. That is why they are much more common south of the Alps than north of them.
  • Here, only one generation flutters about in summer; in the south, two generations may occur.
  • The caterpillars of the Large Tortoiseshell like the leaves of goat willows and other deciduous trees, such as aspens and apple trees.

Silver-washed fritillary

  • Approximately 55 to 65 millimeters long.
  • They like to live on the edges of forests, in clearings and along woodland paths.
  • They fly from June to August
  • They feed on nectar mainly from thistles, blackberry blossoms and hemp-agrimony. The caterpillars feed on violets and overwinter as larvae.
  • widespread in Europe, but rare in intensively farmed landscapes.

Little kingfisher

  • 45 to 52 millimeters.
  • They are found in Europe and Asia, but not in the countries around the Mediterranean
  • They live mainly in damp forests
  • The caterpillars grow on plants such as red honeysuckle and woodbine

Small Copper

  • Size: 22 to 27 millimetres
  • Copper butterflies are found throughout Europe, North America, North Africa and Asia
  • You can find them in sand pits, along roadsides or on fallow land
  • Among other plants, the caterpillars feed on sorrel and knotweed

Small tortoiseshell

  • Size: 40 to 50 millimetres
  • They are found throughout Europe and Asia.
  • They can adapt to different habitats
  • The caterpillars grow almost exclusively on stinging nettles.

Cabbage white butterfly

  • There are two species: the Large White and the Small White
  • Large white butterfly size: 60 mm
  • The Large White butterfly measures 40 to 50 mm.
  • They are widespread throughout Europe and North Africa
  • The caterpillars can be found on various cabbage plants

Map butterfly

  •  Approximately 2.8 to 4.0 centimeters in size
  • Map butterflies are found throughout Europe
  • They are found in open woodlands and along forest edges.
  • The caterpillars need plenty of stinging nettles

Meadow brown

  • Size: 40 to 48 millimeters
  • The large wall brown is widespread across Europe and North Africa. It is also found in Turkey, Iran, Iraq and western Siberia. 
  • They can be found at the edges of forests, in bogs, and even in our gardens.
  • The caterpillars and adult butterflies feed on various meadow grasses.

Large Pearl-bordered Fritillary

  • Size: 50 to 55 millimetres
  • The High Brown Fritillary is found throughout Europe and Asia.
  • They prefer forests, meadows, heathland and marshes as their habitat.
  • The caterpillars of fritillary butterflies feed on various species of violet.

Reseda White

  • Reseda butterflies can be seen in Germany, Austria and Switzerland from around April to September.
  • They are also found in Italy and southeastern Europe.
  • The wingspan is 42 mm to 48 mm.
  • Reseda butterflies prefer open grassland with lots of flowering plants.

Purple emperor

  • Size: About 7 to 8 centimetres. This makes these butterflies some of the largest day-flying butterflies in Europe.
  • They are found in Europe and parts of Asia. In Germany, they live in many regions, but they are not common everywhere.
  • They prefer open deciduous and mixed forests, especially where willows grow. It often stays high up in the treetops and rarely comes down to the ground.
  • The caterpillars feed mainly on goat willow and aspen.

Swallowtail

  • Size: About 7 to 8 centimetres, sometimes even up to 9 centimetres. It is one of the largest butterflies in Europe.
  • The swallowtail is found throughout Europe, in North Africa and parts of Asia. It is widespread across Germany, but relatively rare.
  • It lives mainly in meadows, hills, dry grasslands, gardens and along woodland edges.
  • The caterpillars especially like feeding on meadow chervil, wild carrot, fennel, dill, and parsnip.

Peacock butterfly

  • The eyespots can confuse and scare off other animals, preventing them from attacking.
  • Peacock butterflies grow to 50 to 55 millimetres in size.
  • They are found across large parts of Europe and Asia.
  • They like to be near forests, but can also be found in parks and gardens.
  • The caterpillars feed mainly on the leaves of stinging nettles.

Speckled Wood

  • Size: 32 to 45 millimetres.
  • These butterflies are found in Central Europe and North Africa.
  • They prefer forests with a variety of tree species.
  • The caterpillars grow on many different types of grass.

Brimstone butterfly

  • Size: 50 to 55 millimeters
  • They are found across almost all of Europe, north-western Africa and Central Asia.
  • They live in forests, thickets and sunny areas with grasses and shrubs.
  • Brimstone butterflies can live for 12 months, giving them the longest life expectancy of any butterfly native to this region.
  • The caterpillars feed on the leaves of buckthorn and alder buckthorn.