How do butterflies overwinter?

In summer you see butterflies everywhere, but how do butterflies actually hibernate? We explain what butterflies do in winter.

Winter is a particularly strenuous and adverse season for all garden animals. While many birds fly south for the winter, squirrels hibernate and Even though hedgehogs sleep through the cold season, butterflies seem to disappear in winter without a trace. Many therefore wonder whether and how butterflies hibernate. In fact, the numerous native butterfly species very different techniques to survive this time of year. You can find out what these are and how to help the butterfly hibernate in our article.

Do butterflies hibernate?

Cold-blooded animals, which include reptiles as well as insects, often go into a kind of hibernation in winter, which is also known as hibernation. But do butterflies hibernate too? It depends on the species: Many butterflies overwinter as caterpillars, pupae or eggs, as they are often much more robust in this stage. In these species, butterflies die in winter if their brief adult lifespan has not ended before then. However, it also happens that butterflies fall into hibernation. In some butterfly species, the adult animals also overwinter. Here the butterflies survive the winter by visiting sheltered places and staying there until spring.

Tip - caterpillars in winter: Many butterfly species do not overwinter as adults, but rather in the caterpillar stage. How the caterpillars hibernate also depends on the species: many larvae hibernate sheltered in the ground or under the bark of trees. Other caterpillars are at the mercy of the weather in winter almost without protection - the Lesser Purple Butterfly (Apatura ilia) stays on its host plant for the whole winter. The caterpillars of the great kingfisher (Limenitis populi) have developed a very special way of protecting themselves from the weather: They wrap themselves around Winter storage, the so-called hibernarium, in which they are protected from wind and weather as a caterpillar in winter will.

Where do butterflies hibernate?

When walking through the garden in winter, the sight of a butterfly is a more than rare occurrence. The question quickly arises: Where are the butterflies in winter? Basically, most butterflies look for a sheltered place in winter. Naturally, these are often tree cavities, gaps in stones or gaps in evergreen plants.

However, butterflies are often found spending the winter in the home. In particular, unheated rooms are predestined for butterflies to hibernate in the house, since the Temperatures do not fall below the minus point, but at the same time are low enough for the hibernation are.

The only exception is the brimstone butterfly (Gonepteryx rhamni): This butterfly is often found hibernating in apparently completely unprotected places. In fact, the small moth is not dependent on a frost-protected weather quarters, as it has built-in frost protection. Through the targeted release of water, the brimstone butterfly can lower its freezing point in winter - so it can easily withstand temperatures of down to -20 °C.

By the way: The hibernation of butterflies does not only take place in Germany. Some butterfly species simply flutter south like birds in autumn, bridging the colder months there. The hibernation of the Painted Lady, for example, does not take place in cold Germany, but rather in warm southern Europe or even in Africa.

Which butterflies survive the winter?

The number of butterflies that survive the winter as adult butterflies is actually less than you think: only seven out of almost 200 species of butterflies survive the winter than Butterfly. All other species overwinter as caterpillars, pupae or eggs or fly to warmer areas in winter. Brimstone butterflies are most common in winter. Thanks to their sophisticated frost protection system, no sheltered space is required for the brimstone butterflies overwinter - to the delight of many gardeners who discover the animals in the snowy garden be able. Also peacock butterflies (Aglais io) hibernate in Germany - however, the peacock prefers to seek a sheltered place in winter. Also seeks the swallowtail (Papilio machaon) a sheltered, frost-free place for overwintering. Big and Little Fox (Nymphalis polychloros and Aglais urticae), the admiral (vanessaatalanta), the mourning cloak (Nymphalis antiope) and the C-Folder (Polygonia c-album) are also among the butterflies that overwinter as moths.

Which butterflies overwinter with us as adult butterflies?

• brimstone butterfly
• peacock butterfly
• big fox
• Little fox
• admiral
• mourning cloak
• C moth

How can I help butterflies in winter?

Garden animals in winter are almost always dependent on human help - and butterflies are no exception. In particular, sheltered spots for hibernation have unfortunately become rare. If you want to help the butterflies overwinter, you should first and foremost make sure you have shelter to provide: Dense climbing plants, heaps of rocks and brushwood as well as dead wood and tree cavities are ideal for overwintering the butterflies. It is therefore best to ensure a varied garden with many wild corners where there are enough shelters for the small butterflies. Alternatively, an insect hotel or a Butterfly house in the garden serve as weather protection for the moths. You can also offer unheated garden sheds or tool sheds to butterflies for hibernation by leaving a window ajar.

Butterfly friendly plants are just as important for butterflies during the winter as a suitable shelter. Not only do they provide the butterflies with urgently needed nutrients after the end of the hibernation, they also serve as a place to hibernate for many caterpillars in winter. Therefore, plant as early as spring or summer a diverse, butterfly-friendly seed mixture such as the Plantura butterfly meeting and be sure to leave the plants in the winter, too: caterpillars can hibernate on them.

How can I help butterflies overwinter?

• Leave the garden as natural as possible
• Set up a butterfly house or insect hotel
• Leave the windows of the garden house and tool shed open a crack
• Sow butterfly-friendly plants
• Avoid mowing butterfly-friendly plants in winter

It often happens that you have found a butterfly in winter. Especially when butterflies choose the apartment to hibernate, animals and humans often meet inevitably. Where the butterfly wants to hibernate is crucial for further action.
If the animal has chosen an unheated room with temperatures below 12 °C, for example the attic or the garage, you can keep the butterflies in the house in winter.
However, if the moth has chosen a room that needs to be heated, the butterfly needs help when it hibernates: the warm temperatures wake them up vital spirits of the butterfly and tear it out of its hibernation - in the worst case, the butterfly then dies after a short time because it has too much energy consumed.

To help the butterfly overwinter, carefully catch the animal in a cardboard box and release it again in a more suitable place. Make sure that the animal has a way to escape from its winter quarters in spring - an open window is a suitable escape route, for example. If you find a butterfly outside in winter, you should at best leave it in its place so as not to disturb its hibernation. Under no circumstances should you bring the butterfly into the warm house - this well-intentioned help is unfortunately often a death sentence for the colorful insects.

What do I do if I find a butterfly in winter?

• Finding place outdoors: If possible, leave the butterfly where it was found, never carry it into the house.
• Finding place in an unheated room (< 12 °C): leave the butterfly where it was found.
• Finding place in a heated room (> 12 °C): Carefully catch the butterfly in a cardboard box and carefully transport to a cooler location, on spring escape routes in new location respect, think highly of.

Not only butterflies need help in winter, other animals are also dependent on people at the beginning of the cold season. You can find out how to support hedgehogs, for example, in our article Support hedgehogs in the fall.