Regional Species


Small White
Pieris rapae

Photograph by Janet Graham (Bala Lake)

Regional Species

This species can be abundant in towns and villages but is not particularly frequent elsewhere and is far less common generally than the Green-veined White. However, it is a wide-ranging butterfly and can be expected to turn up, in high summer, almost anywhere except perhaps the highest ground.

The butterfly breeds on brassicas in gardens and sometimes also in fields of rape, kale etc. There are two broods each year, the second being much the larger. Winter is passed in the pupal stage.

Difficult to distinguish from the other whites; a close look is essential.