Aglais urticae
In 3 days ~70% in a week ~90%
The small tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae) is a colourful Eurasian butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. Adults feed on nectar and may hibernate over winter; in warmer climates they may have two broods in a season. While the dorsal surface of the wings is vividly marked, the ventral surface is drab, providing camouflage. Eggs are laid on the common nettle, on which the larvae feed.
It is a medium-sized butterfly that is mainly reddish orange, with black and yellow markings on the forewings as well as a ring of blue spots around the edge of the wings. It has a wingspan ranging from 4.5 to 6.2 cm. A bright foxy red ground-colour; the forewing with 3 black costal spots, whose interspaces are yellow, there being a larger black spot in the middle of the hindmarginal area and two smaller ones in the disc between the 3 radial and 2 median; hindwing with the basal half black; both wings with black submarginal band bearing blue spots. Underside of the forewing ochreous, with the costal spots as above, the apex and distal margin blackish; hindwing brown, basal half black with dentate edge, the whole surface with darker pencilling; at the distal margin... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aigüestortes National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 2 | Hohe Tauern National Park | 🇦🇹 Austria | |
| 3 | Tatra National Park | 🇸🇰 Slovakia | |
| 4 | Vanoise National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 5 | Picos de Europa National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 6 | Mercantour National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 7 | Sierra Nevada National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 8 | Pyrénées National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 9 | Ecrins National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 10 | Cairngorms National Park | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 11 | Triglav National Park | 🇸🇮 Slovenia | |
| 12 | Snowdonia National Park | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 13 | Bavarian Forest National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 14 | Biebrza National Park | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 15 | Gauja National Park | 🇱🇻 Latvia | |
| 16 | Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 17 | Białowieża National Park | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 18 | Wadden Sea National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 19 | Sierra de Guadarrama National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 20 | Cévennes National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 21 | Fertő-Hanság National Park | 🇭🇺 Hungary |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ulaanbaatar | 🇲🇳 Mongolia | |
| 2 | Helsinki | 🇫🇮 Finland | |
| 3 | Birmingham | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 4 | Manchester | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 5 | Liverpool | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 6 | Dublin | 🇮🇪 Ireland | |
| 7 | Leeds | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 8 | Copenhagen | 🇩🇰 Denmark | |
| 9 | Novosibirsk | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 10 | Munich | 🇩🇪 Germany |
Possible
About 30% of wildlife watchers report a Small Tortoiseshell sighting in Sierra Nevada National Park on a given day, based on 84 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 3rd most-seen of the 479 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 70%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May and June
In those months about 50% of wildlife watchers report a Small Tortoiseshell in Sierra Nevada National Park on a given day, against under 5% in September to December, the lowest months.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Small Tortoiseshell sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
7th of 21
Of the 21 parks where we can rate Small Tortoiseshell sightings, Sierra Nevada National Park ranks 7th at about 30%. The best odds are in Aigüestortes National Park (Spain, about 50%), Hohe Tauern National Park (Austria, about 50%) and Tatra National Park (Slovakia, about 40%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Nymphalidae
The closest relatives of the Small Tortoiseshell that you can see in Sierra Nevada National Park (family Nymphalidae, Brush-footed Butterflies) are Wall Brown (about 40%), Iberian Marbled White (about 30%) and Painted Lady (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Small Tortoiseshell is recorded against all the insects logged in Sierra Nevada National Park (84 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
