Butterflies in Poland
Poland has around 160 butterfly species on record, roughly 150 of which breed in the country every year, which makes it one of the richer butterfly faunas of northern and central Europe. The everyday species are the Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell, Map, Brimstone and the garden whites, while the Apollo of the Pieniny gorge, the Large Copper of the eastern marshes and the Sudeten Ringlet of the Karkonosze are specialists found in only a few places. Poland has no official national butterfly, but the Apollo is the species the country works hardest to protect.
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Butterflies of Poland at a glance
Poland is a big, flat, mostly forested country with a continental climate, and its butterfly list reflects that: around 160 species have been recorded, of which roughly 150 breed every year. The rest are migrants and rare wanderers. That is nearly three times the total of the United Kingdom, and close to what neighbouring Germany supports, because Poland reaches from the Baltic dunes to the Tatra peaks and still keeps large tracts of old forest, peat bog and unploughed meadow.
The brush-footed butterflies make up almost half the list. They include the woodland fritillaries, the grassland browns and heaths, the mountain ringlets of the genus Erebia, the nettle-feeding tortoiseshells and the canopy-dwelling emperors and admirals. The blues, coppers and hairstreaks come next with more than forty species, followed by fifteen whites and sulphurs, sixteen skippers, five swallowtails and the country's single metalmark, the Duke of Burgundy.
What sets Poland apart from western Europe is the east: Białowieża, the Biebrza marshes and the Lublin uplands hold the Poplar Admiral, Large Copper, Scarce Fritillary and Woodland Brown, all rare or gone further west.
Signature Polish butterflies
The Apollo is Poland's most famous butterfly and its greatest conservation project. A large white butterfly with red-ringed eyespots, it lives on sunny limestone slopes where its caterpillar eats orpine stonecrop. By the 1980s it had shrunk to a few dozen individuals in the Pieniny gorge; a breeding and release programme run by Pieniny National Park since 1991 has rebuilt the population and the Apollo now flies over the Three Crowns massif in July.
The Swallowtail is the largest butterfly most Poles will see, reaching about 80 mm and breeding on wild carrot, fennel and dill in two broods. The Poplar Admiral, a huge dark brush-foot with a white band, matches it in size but is rarely seen because it stays in the tops of aspens and drops only to damp forest tracks in June.
The Purple Emperor and its smaller relative the Lesser Purple Emperor share the oak and willow woods of the whole country. Males flash violet from above and come down for salts on mud, dung and carrion in July. The Map is the butterfly Poles most often ask about, because its two generations look like different species: the spring brood is orange with black spots and the summer brood is black with a white band.
In gardens the year belongs to the Peacock, the Small Tortoiseshell, the Comma and the Brimstone, all of which hibernate as adults and are the first butterflies of March. The Mourning Cloak, a dark maroon butterfly with a cream border, is far commoner in Poland than in western Europe and is a regular sight at sap runs and rotting fruit.
The Polish butterfly calendar
Polish winters are long and cold, so the season is short and intense. Nothing flies from November to late February. On the first warm days of March the butterflies that spent the winter as adults appear: Brimstone, Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell, Comma, Mourning Cloak and Large Tortoiseshell. Our guide to where butterflies go in winter explains how they survive months of frost in hollow trees, woodpiles and barns.
April and May bring the spring specialists: the Orange Tip along damp ditches, the Green Hairstreak on heaths, the Grizzled and Dingy Skippers on dry grassland, the Chequered Skipper in forest clearings and the Woodland Ringlet, the first of the Erebia browns. The spring Map flies in May, the summer Map in July and August.
Diversity peaks from late June to early August. Meadow Browns, Ringlets and Marbled Whites fill every unmown meadow, the Silver-washed and Dark Green Fritillaries patrol forest edges, and the mountain ringlets and Apollo are on the wing in the Tatra and Pieniny. Painted Ladies and Red Admirals, which cannot survive the Polish winter, arrive from the Mediterranean in May and June and breed through the summer; in strong migration years such as 2009 and 2019 the Painted Lady was the commonest butterfly in the country.
Where to see butterflies in Poland
Most Polish butterflies are meadow and forest-edge insects, and any sunny woodland ride or hay meadow in June will produce twenty species. For the specialists, a few landscapes stand out.
- Pieniny National Park — the Apollo on the limestone slopes of the Three Crowns in July, with Clouded Apollo, Adonis Blue and the Scarce Swallowtail on the same warm hillsides.
- Białowieża Forest — Poland's primeval lowland forest, home to the Poplar Admiral, Woodland Brown, Scarce Fritillary and both purple emperors along the forest tracks in June and July.
- Biebrza and Narew marshes — the Large Copper, the Cranberry Fritillary and the Cranberry Blue of the peat bogs, and the Marsh Fritillary in the wet meadows.
- Tatra and Karkonosze mountains — the Mountain Ringlet, Sudeten Ringlet, Dewy Ringlet and Silky Ringlet above the tree line in July and August.
- Lublin upland and Roztocze — dry limestone grassland with the Dryad, Great Banded Grayling and a rich set of blues, coppers and hairstreaks.
Host plants and butterfly gardening in Poland
The Polish countryside still has the two things a butterfly garden needs, nectar and native caterpillar host plants, so a garden works best when it copies a meadow edge rather than a flower bed.
- Stinging nettle in a sunny corner feeds the caterpillars of the Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell, Comma, Map and Red Admiral; a shaded patch is ignored.
- Wild carrot, dill and fennel — the Swallowtail lays on all three, and its striped green caterpillar is easy to find in July.
- Garlic mustard and cuckooflower for the Orange Tip; alder buckthorn for the Brimstone.
- Bird's-foot trefoil, clover and kidney vetch for the Common Blue, Mazarine Blue and Small Blue; sorrel for the Small Copper.
- Long grass left until August feeds the Meadow Brown, Ringlet, Small Heath and the skippers, which is why a strip of unmown lawn does more than any planting.
For nectar, the reliable Polish sequence runs willow catkins and dandelions in April, knapweed, scabious and marjoram at midsummer, buddleia and hemp agrimony in August and ivy and fallen fruit in autumn.
Rare and protected butterflies in Poland
Poland protects a set of butterflies by law and monitors many of them under the EU Habitats Directive. The strictly protected list includes the Apollo and Clouded Apollo, the four Phengaris blues, the Violet and Large Coppers, the Scarce and Marsh Fritillaries, the False Ringlet and the Sudeten Ringlet, whose entire Polish range is a few square kilometres of the Karkonosze and the Hrubý Jeseník on the Czech side.
The Large Blue and its relatives, the Scarce, Dusky and Alcon Blues, depend on red ants of the genus Myrmica that carry the caterpillars into their nests, so they vanish as soon as a meadow is drained, fertilised or left to scrub over. The Danube Clouded Yellow, once found in eastern Poland, is thought to have been lost in the last two decades, and the Hermit and the Chequered Blue have retreated to a handful of dry grasslands.
The threats are drainage of wet meadows, the end or intensification of hay cutting, afforestation of dry grassland and tourism pressure on the last Apollo slopes. The successes are real too: the Apollo has been rebuilt, the Large Copper still holds the Biebrza and Narew valleys, and the Map and Comma have spread north with warmer summers.
Butterflies found in Poland
159 species listed for Poland, grouped by family. Linked names have a full profile on this site with pictures of every life stage.
Brush-Footed (Nymphalidae)
Aglais ioPeacock (Aglais io)Four huge eyespots on a rust-red ground make the peacock one of the most recognisable butterflies in Europe.
Aglais urticaeSmall Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae)Orange-red with a black-and-yellow chequered front edge and a rim of blue crescents, the small tortoiseshell is the butterfly that turns up on a gardeApatura irisPurple Emperor (Apatura iris)The purple emperor spends most of its short adult life in the tops of oak trees, drinking honeydew and picking fights, and the famous purple is not a Erebia epiphronMountain Ringlet (Erebia epiphron)A small, sooty butterfly with a chain of orange spots, the mountain ringlet lives higher than any other butterfly in Britain and spends its brief adul
Nymphalis antiopaMourning Cloak (Nymphalis antiopa)The mourning cloak (Nymphalis antiopa) is a large dark butterfly of woodland, riverbank and suburb across North America and temperate Eurasia, and not
Polygonia c-albumComma (Polygonia c-album)The comma (Polygonia c-album) is a medium-sized orange-and-brown butterfly of woodland edges, hedgerows and gardens across Europe, North Africa and te
Vanessa atalantaRed Admiral (Vanessa atalanta)The red admiral (Vanessa atalanta) is a medium-sized blackish butterfly marked with one bright orange-red band across each forewing and a scatter of w
Vanessa carduiPainted Lady (Vanessa cardui)No other butterfly lives on so much of the planet.Show all 67 other brush-footed species names
- Lesser Purple Emperor (Apatura ilia)
- Ringlet (Aphantopus hyperantus)
- Map (Araschnia levana)
- Silver-washed Fritillary (Argynnis paphia)
- Pallas' Fritillary (Argynnis laodice)
- Cardinal (Argynnis pandora)
- Cranberry Fritillary (Boloria aquilonaris)
- Pales Fritillary (Boloria pales)
- Violet Frillitary (Boloria dia)
- Pearl-bordered Fritillary (Boloria euphrosyne)
- Small Pearl-Bordered Fritillary (Boloria selene)
- Titania's Fritillary (Boloria titania)
- Ocellate Bog Fritillary (Boloria eunomia)
- Marbled Fritillary (Brenthis daphne)
- Lesser Marbled Fritillary (Brenthis ino)
- Great Banded Grayling (Brintesia circe)
- Dark Rock Brown (Chazara briseis)
- Pearly Heath (Coenonympha arcania)
- Chestnut Heath (Coenonympha glycerion)
- Scarce Heath (Coenonympha hero)
- False Ringlet (Coenonympha oedippus)
- Small Heath (Coenonympha pamphilus)
- Tullia's Ringlet (Coenonympha tullia)
- Scotch Argus (Erebia aethiops)
- Large Ringlet (Erebia euryale)
- Silky Ringlet (Erebia gorge)
- Meadow Ringlet (Erebia ligea)
- Yellow-spotted Ringlet (Erebia manto)
- Woodland Ringlet (Erebia medusa)
- Dewy Ringlet (Erebia pandrose)
- Blind Ringlet (Erebia pharte)
- Shepherd's Fritillary (Erebia pronoe)
- Sudeten Ringlet (Erebia sudetica)
- Marsh Fritillary (Euphydryas aurinia)
- Scarce Fritillary (Euphydryas maturna)
- High Brown Fritillary (Fabriciana adippe)
- Niobe Fritillary (Fabriciana niobe)
- Rock Grayling (Hipparchia hermione)
- Tree Grayling (Hipparchia statilinus)
- Grayling (Hipparchia semele)
- Dusky Meadow Brown (Hyponephele lycaon)
- Queen of Spain Fritillary (Issoria lathonia)
- Large Wall Brown (Lasiommata maera)
- Wall Brown (Lasiommata megera)
- Northern Wall Brown (Lasiommata petropolitana)
- White Admiral (Limenitis camilla)
- Poplar Admiral (Limenitis populi)
- Woodland Brown (Lopinga achine)
- Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina)
- Marbled White (Melanargia galathea)
- Heath Fritillary (Melitaea athalia)
- Nickerl's Fritillary (Melitaea aurelia)
- Assmann's Fritillary (Melitaea britomartis)
- Glanville Fritillary (Melitaea cinxia)
- False Heath Fritillary (Melitaea diamina)
- Spotted Fritillary (Melitaea didyma)
- Phoebe Fritillary (Melitaea phoebe)
- Dryad (Minois dryas)
- Hungarian Glider (Neptis rivularis)
- Pallas' Sailer (Neptis sappho)
- Large Tortoiseshell (Nymphalis polychloros)
- Compton Tortoiseshell (Nymphalis vaualbum)
- Yellow-legged Tortoiseshell (Nymphalis xanthomelas)
- Jutta Arctic (Oeneis jutta)
- Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria)
- Hedge Brown (Pyronia tithonus)
- Dark Green Fritillary (Speyeria aglaja)
Gossamer-Winged (Lycaenidae)
Callophrys rubiGreen Hairstreak (Callophrys rubi)The only butterfly in Europe with plain green undersides, the green hairstreak spends its whole adult life with its wings shut, so the brown upperside
Celastrina argiolusHolly Blue (Celastrina argiolus)The holly blue is the small silvery-blue butterfly that flies round the tops of hedges and ivy-covered walls in spring, well above the height of every
Cupido minimusSmall Blue (Cupido minimus)The small blue is Britain's smallest butterfly, a sooty brown insect barely an inch across that lives in tight colonies on chalk and limestone grassla
Polyommatus semiargusMazarine Blue (Polyommatus semiargus)A small, deep violet-blue butterfly of old hay meadows, the mazarine blue is best known for what it lacks: there is not a single orange mark on its pl
Neozephyrus quercusPurple Hairstreak (Neozephyrus quercus)The purple hairstreak is a small silvery-grey butterfly of oak woodland across Europe, North Africa and western Asia, and it is identified in flight b
Lycaena phlaeasCommon Copper (Lycaena phlaeas)The common copper (Lycaena phlaeas), known as the small copper in Europe and the American copper in North America, is a small, fast-flying butterfly o
Polyommatus bellargusAdonis Blue (Polyommatus bellargus)The Adonis blue is a small butterfly of warm chalk and limestone grassland in Europe and western Asia, where the male's brilliant sky-blue wings and bPhengaris arionLarge Blue (Phengaris arion)The large blue (Phengaris arion) is the biggest of Europe's blue butterflies, a bright blue insect with a row of bold black forewing spots that lives 
Polyommatus icarusCommon Blue (Polyommatus Icarus)The common blue is a small grassland butterfly of Europe, North Africa and temperate Asia in which the male is violet-blue above and the female mostlyShow all 38 other gossamer-winged species names
- Cranberry Blue (Agriades optilete)
- Brown Argus (Aricia agestis)
- Northern Brown Argus (Aricia artaxerxes)
- Provençal Short-tailed Blue (Cupido alcetas)
- Short-tailed Blue (Cupido argiades)
- Eastern Short-tailed Blue (Cupido decolorata)
- Geranium Argus (Eumedonia eumedon)
- Green-underside Blue (Glaucopsyche alexis)
- Lang's Short-tailed Blue (Leptotes pirithous)
- Purple-shot Copper (Lycaena alciphron)
- Large Copper (Lycaena dispar)
- Violet Copper (Lycaena helle)
- Purple-edged Copper (Lycaena hippothoe)
- Sooty Copper (Lycaena tityrus)
- Scarce Copper (Lycaena virgaureae)
- Chalkhill Blue (Lysandra coridon)
- Alcon Blue (Phengaris alcon)
- Dusky Large Blue (Phengaris nausithous)
- Scarce Large Blue (Phengaris teleius)
- Silver-studded Blue (Plebejus argus)
- Reverdin's Blue (Plebejus argyrognomon)
- Idas Blue (Plebejus idas)
- Damon Blue (Polyommatus damon)
- Ripart's Anomalous Blue (Polyommatus ripartii)
- Meleager's Blue (Polyommatus daphnis)
- Amanda's Blue (Polyommatus amandus)
- Dorylas Blue (Polyommatus dorylas)
- Eros Blue (Polyommatus eros)
- Chapman's Blue (Polyommatus thersites)
- Baton Blue (Pseudophilotes baton)
- Eastern Baton Blue (Pseudophilotes vicrama)
- Sloe Hairstreak (Satyrium acaciae)
- Ilex Hairstreak (Satyrium ilicis)
- Black Hairstreak (Satyrium pruni)
- Blue-spot Hairstreak (Satyrium spini)
- White-letter Hairstreak (Satyrium w-album)
- Orion Blue (Scolitantides orion)
- Brown Hairstreak (Thecla betulae)
Whites and Sulphurs (Pieridae)
Anthocharis cardaminesOrange-tip (Anthocharis cardamines)The orange-tip is a small white butterfly of damp meadows, hedgerows, woodland rides and gardens across Europe and temperate Asia, and the male's defi
Colias croceusClouded Yellow (Colias croceus)The clouded yellow (Colias croceus) is a fast, low-flying golden-orange butterfly of open grassland, breeding around the Mediterranean and North Afric
Gonepteryx rhamniBrimstone (Gonepteryx rhamni)The brimstone is a large, leaf-shaped yellow butterfly of woodland edges, hedgerows and gardens across Europe, North Africa and temperate Asia, and th
Pieris rapaeCabbage White (Pieris rapae)The cabbage white is probably the most-seen butterfly on the planet: a small, chalk-white insect with one or two black spots that drifts over allotmen
Pieris napiGreen-veined White (Pieris napi)The green-veined white (Pieris napi) is a medium-sized white butterfly of damp meadows, woodland rides, hedgerows and stream banks across Europe, NortPieris rapaeCabbage White (Pieris rapae)The cabbage white is probably the most-seen butterfly on the planet: a small, chalk-white insect with one or two black spots that drifts over allotmenShow all 9 other whites and sulphurs species names
- Berger's Clouded Yellow (Colias alfacariensis)
- Eastern Pale Clouded Yellow (Colias erate)
- Pale Clouded Yellow (Colias hyale)
- Danube Clouded Yellow (Colias myrmidone)
- Moorland Clouded Yellow (Colias palaeno)
- Réal's Wood White (Leptidea reali)
- Wood White (Leptidea sinapis)
- Dark-veined White (Pieris bryoniae)
- Eastern Bath White (Pontia edusa)
Metalmark (Riodinidae)
- Duke of Burgundy (Hamearis lucina)
Swallowtail (Papilionidae)
Iphiclides podaliriusScarce Swallowtail (Iphiclides podalirius)A cream-coloured swallowtail striped like a tiger and tailed like a sail, the scarce swallowtail is one of the great gliders of the European butterflyPapilio machaonOld World Swallowtail (Papilio machaon)The Old World swallowtail is a large yellow-and-black butterfly with a tail on each hindwing and a red eyespot above it, found right across Europe, NoParnassius apolloApollo (Parnassius apollo)A large white mountain butterfly with black forewing spots and red, white-pupilled eyespots on the hindwings, the apollo is the emblem of European alp- Clouded Apollo (Parnassius mnemosyne)
- Southern Festoon (Zerynthia polyxena)
Skipper (Hesperiidae)
Show all 15 other skipper species names
- Tufted Skipper (Carcharodus floccifera)
- Chequered Skipper (Carterocephalus palaemon)
- Northern Chequered Skipper (Carterocephalus silvicola)
- Dingy Skipper (Erynnis tages)
- Silver-spotted Skipper (Hesperia comma)
- Large Chequered Skipper (Heteropterus morpheus)
- Large Skipper (Ochlodes sylvanus)
- Large Grizzled Skipper (Pyrgus alveus)
- Oberthür's Grizzled Skipper (Pyrgus armoricanus)
- Safflower Skipper (Pyrgus carthami)
- Olive Skipper (Pyrgus serratulae)
- Red-underwing Skipper (Spialia sertorius)
- Lulworth Skipper (Thymelicus acteon)
- European Skipper (Thymelicus lineola)
- Small Skipper (Thymelicus sylvestris)
How to identify a butterfly in Poland
Start with size and colour, then habitat. A large orange-and-black butterfly with silver on the underside is a fritillary, and in Poland the Silver-washed, Dark Green and High Brown Fritillaries are the common woodland ones while the small Boloria species belong to bogs and clearings. Brown butterflies with eyespots are browns, heaths or ringlets; the darker the wing and the higher the ground, the more likely an Erebia ringlet. Small blue or brown butterflies with rows of underside spots are blues, and the Common Blue is by far the most frequent.
Whites are hardest: the Large White has a bold black wingtip, the Small White a small one and the Green-veined White grey-green veins beneath. When in doubt, photograph the underside; most Polish species can be named from it. For the rest of the continent, browse the country pages under Butterflies of the World.
Frequently asked questions about Polish butterflies
How many butterfly species are there in Poland?
Around 160 butterfly species have been recorded in Poland, and roughly 150 of them breed in the country every year. The remainder are migrants such as the Painted Lady and rare wanderers from the south. That is one of the larger totals in northern and central Europe, thanks to Poland's old forests, peat bogs and mountains.
What are the most common butterflies in Poland?
The Small White, Green-veined White, Meadow Brown, Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell and Common Blue are the butterflies seen most often across Poland. In gardens the Peacock, Comma, Map and Brimstone are everyday visitors, and in strong migration years the Painted Lady can outnumber all of them from June to September.
Does Poland have a national butterfly?
No, Poland has not officially designated a national butterfly. The Apollo is treated as the country's flagship species because it was rescued from near extinction in the Pieniny Mountains by a breeding programme that began in 1991, and it appears on park logos, stamps and conservation campaigns across the country.
Which rare butterflies live in Poland?
Poland's rarest butterflies include the Apollo of the Pieniny, the Sudeten Ringlet of the Karkonosze, the Large Copper of the eastern marshes, the Scarce Fritillary of the Białowieża Forest, the False Ringlet and the four Phengaris blues. All are strictly protected by Polish law, and several are monitored under the EU Habitats Directive.
What does the Peacock butterfly in Poland look like?
The Peacock is a rusty red butterfly with a large blue-and-yellow eyespot on each of its four wings and a near-black underside. With a wingspan of 50 to 60 mm it is one of the largest garden butterflies in Poland. It hibernates as an adult and is among the first species to fly in March.
How many fritillary species are found in Poland?
More than twenty fritillaries breed in Poland. The large woodland ones are the Silver-washed, Dark Green, High Brown and Niobe Fritillaries; the bogs and clearings hold small Boloria species such as the Pearl-bordered and Cranberry Fritillaries; and the Melitaea and Euphydryas group includes the Heath, Glanville, Marsh and Scarce Fritillaries.
Where is the best place to see butterflies in Poland?
The Pieniny National Park is the best single site, with the Apollo, Clouded Apollo and Scarce Swallowtail on its limestone slopes in July. The Białowieża Forest is best for the Poplar Admiral and purple emperors, the Biebrza marshes for the Large Copper, and the Tatra and Karkonosze for the mountain ringlets.
What is special about the Map butterfly in Poland?
The Map has two generations that look like different species. The spring brood, flying in May, is orange with black spots; the summer brood, flying in July and August, is black with a white band. The difference is set by day length while the caterpillar develops. It breeds on nettles and has spread across Poland.
When is the best time to see butterflies in Poland?
Late June to early August is the peak, when the meadow browns, fritillaries, blues, purple emperors and the Apollo are all flying together. The season begins on the first warm days of March with the overwintered Brimstone, Peacock and Small Tortoiseshell and ends in late September with the last Clouded Yellows.
Which Polish butterflies survive the winter as adults?
Six Polish butterflies pass the winter as adults: the Brimstone, Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell, Comma, Mourning Cloak and Large Tortoiseshell. They hide in hollow trees, woodpiles, barns and cellars from October and fly again in March. The Painted Lady and Red Admiral cannot survive a Polish winter and return from the south each spring.
Published November 22, 2023 · Last updated September 21, 2026