Overview

• Warm, dry conditions in 2025 created favorable short-term conditions for many species, with observers reporting notably frequent sightings of the chimney sweeper butterfly.
• Biologist Martin Wiemers warns that many German butterflies remain threatened despite this year's boost, emphasizing that single years do not reverse the broader decline.
• Intensive agriculture and pesticide use are cited as key pressures, and frequent mowing can kill large numbers of butterflies, with experts urging that at least a quarter of meadow areas be left unmown.
• Extreme weather events such as heavy rains and prolonged droughts can kill larvae and deplete food plants, compounding population losses.
• Germany hosts about 3,700 butterfly species, including roughly 190 day-flying species, and the last Red List review of 184 species about 15 years ago found around 42 percent extinct or threatened.