The small tortoiseshell is one of the most familiar garden butterflies of Britain and northern Europe, its reddish-orange forewings marked with black and yellow and edged by a border of blue spots. Adults are generalist nectar foragers, visiting Sedum, Verbena bonariensis, buddleia, thistles, and marjoram among many other flowers, while larvae feed primarily on stinging nettle (Urtica), with hops occasionally recorded as a minor host. The species overwinters as an adult in sheltered sites and is among the first butterflies to appear in spring.

Nectar plants · 4

Temperate Europe and Asia from Ireland and Iberia east through Siberia, China, Korea, and Japan; common across Britain and Ireland. Populations in parts of western Europe have declined markedly in recent decades.