In long-term decline

24 Thursday Apr 2025

Tags

British butterflies, butterfly, declining butterfly populations, Green-veined white, Green-veined white butterfly, Pieris napi

The UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme recently released its latest report on how our butterflies are faring, and, for the majority of the 58 British butterfly species, the news is not good.

The latest butterfly to emerge in my locale has been the Green-veined white (Pieris napi), which is described by the UKBMS as ‘stable’ but I’m not sure I’d agree with their definition of stable when these are the statistics they list:

Status since 1976 is Stable with a change of -23.1% since monitoring began for this species.
Status over the last 20 years is Stable with a change of -20.8%
Status over the last 10 years is Stable with a change of -35.7%

In fact, on social media, the Head of Science at Butterfly Conservation wrote: ‘One of the big shocks of last year’s UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme results was that, after its worst year on record in 2024 and a run of six below average years, Green-veined White (Pieris napi) is now in long-term decline.’ This seems a far better summary of the situation. So far, I’ve only seen these two Green-veined whites this year; fingers crossed I manage to see more.

Species 11

23 Tuesday Apr 2024

Posted by sconzani in insects, wildflowers

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

British butterflies, butterfly, Green-veined white, Pieris napi, Red campion

This gorgeous female (the spring females are more heavily marked than the males) was my first Green-veined white (Pieris napi) of the year. It occurred to me later that I should’ve watched her for longer as I’ve not yet seen any of this species’ eggs or caterpillars. I might start checking the larval foodplants they use – Cuckooflower, Garlic mustard, Hedge mustard, Wild Cabbage and Wild radish, amongst others – to see what I can find. If I find anything, I’ll report back.

240423 green-veined white

Pieris napi

08 Monday May 2023

Posted by sconzani in insects

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

British butterflies, butterfly, Green-veined white, Pieris napi

My first confirmed sighting of a Green-veined white of 2023 came later than usual, last Thursday, 4 May, but it more than made up for its tardiness by posing beautifully on some not-quite-opened Hawthorn blossom. I love its scientific name Pieris napi, the Latin Pieris coming from the Ancient Greek Πιερίς meaning a muse and its specific name napi being a reference to one of its larval foodplants, Oil-seed rape (Brassica napus).

230508 green-veined white

Two whites

14 Wednesday Apr 2021

Posted by sconzani in insects, spring

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

British butterflies, Green-veined white, Lavernock Nature Reserve, Orange-tip butterfly, Orange-tip male, spring butterflies

With the help of a little warm sunshine, Lavernock Nature Reserve came up trumps for me yesterday, as I found my first Orange-tip and Green-veined white butterflies for 2021, two of each. So beautiful, so lucky!

210414 orange-tip 210414 green-veined white

244/366 Butterfly magic

31 Monday Aug 2020

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

aberrant Meadow brown, British butterflies, butterfly, Comma, Green-veined white, Painted Lady, Red Admiral, Small copper, Small tortoiseshell

To celebrate – or, perhaps, to mourn – the last calendar day of summer, here’s a tribute to some of the beautiful butterflies I’ve seen in recent days, just because, when they’re gone, I’m really going to miss their magic.

200831 comma

A Comma doing what they do so well when their wings are closed – blending in.

200831 green-veined white

Most of the white butterflies I’ve seen lately have been Small whites so this Green-veined white stood out from the crowd.

200831 meadow brown

Here’s another that stood out – an aberrant Meadow brown. There always has to be one!

200831 painted lady

The heat wave a couple of weeks ago seems to have brought in a small influx of Painted ladies, though nothing like the numbers we had last year.

200831 red admiral

Have you ever noticed how much Red admirals like blackberries? And their colours blend in to this background rather well.

200831 small tortoiseshell

Small tortoiseshells have been having a good year locally, which has been a real treat. I even found two feeding on Red valerian right at the edge of one of the local beaches this morning.

200831 small copper

A delightful surprise from Saturday’s walk at Cosmeston, a pristine Small copper.

202/366 More misc minis

20 Monday Jul 2020

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

bonking neetles, British butterflies, British crickets, British grasshoppers, Common red soldier beetle, Green-veined white, Long winged cone-head, Meadow grasshopper, Nettle weevil, Small copper, weevil

Some snippets from the insect world around me:

200720 common red soldier beetles

A sure sign that it’s now high summer, Common red soldier beetles (Rhagonycha fulva) can be seen everywhere, especially on the flowers of umbellifers, demonstrating why they are often called bonking beetles.

Also caught copulating, these Green-veined white butterflies (Pieris napi) were being annoyed by a third of their kind, trying to get involved in the action.

200720 small copper

On the subject of butterflies, the second brood of Small coppers (Lycaena phlaeas) is now on the wing. This stunning specimen was only the second Small copper I’d seen this year, so was a very welcome sighting.

200720 nettle weevil

There’s nothing cuter than a weevil. This one is, I think, a Nettle weevil (Phyllobius pomaceus).

I found this odd: a colony of ants, farming a horde of aphids on this ragwort plant, have extended their nest up the very stem of the plant.

200720 meadow grasshopper

To finish this post, first, a Meadow grasshopper (Chorthippus parallelus) nymph and …

200720 long winged cone-head nymph

… another nymph, also often a meadow dweller, this time a cricket species, a Long winged cone-head (Conocephalus fuscus).

164/366 ‘Flowers that fly’

12 Friday Jun 2020

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

British butterflies, butterfly, Comma, Green-veined white, Large skipper, Meadow Brown, Speckled wood

‘… flowers that fly and all but sing’
~ from ‘Blue-butterfly Day’, a poem by Robert Frost

These are some of the ‘flowers’ that have been flying around me this week, causing my heart to sing.

Comma, one of three seen on Tuesday’s walk

Green-veined white

Large skipper, a butterfly with attitude

Meadow brown, from a count of 54 in a single meadow

Speckled wood

122/366 Species 10

01 Friday May 2020

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

British butterflies, butterfly, Grangemoor Park, Green-veined white, Pieris napi

With the current restrictions on movement, my butterflying has got off to a slower start than usual but today I spotted my first Green-veined white butterfly of 2020, my tenth species for the year, during my walk around Cardiff’s Grangemoor Park.

200501 Green-veined white (1)

This pristine male only appeared briefly, before disappearing amongst the leafy trees, but it was a joy to see him. These spring-brood Green-veined whites are often very pale – I can’t even see the small dark spots on his upper wings and he has only a hint of yellow colouring on his undersides. The summer brood, when they emerge in July and August, usually show darker markings – I’ll try and do a comparison post later in the year to show the differences.

200501 Green-veined white (2)

Birding at Peterston & Pendoylan Moors

12 Thursday Jul 2018

Posted by sconzani in animals, birds, insects, nature, walks

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

birding, birdwatching, British birds, British butterflies, butterflies, Cinnabar caterpillars, Comma, Cows, Glamorgan Bird Club, Green-veined white, Meadow Brown, Peacock, Red fox, Red kite, River Ely, Sand martin, Small tortoiseshell, Stock dove

Yesterday I enjoyed another wonderful, if rather hot day’s birding with my friends from the Glamorgan Bird Club, this time wandering a trail alongside the River Ely near Peterston-super-Ely and Pendoylan.

180711 2 red kites

On the way there, my friend John and I had incredibly close views of three Red kites and more of these magnificent birds of prey were gliding overhead during our walk.

180711 1 stock dove

We saw Stock doves (one pictured above) sitting obligingly close to Woodpigeons so we could see the differences in the two species.

180711 2 red fox

A Red fox was spotted trotting along in a distant field, its lunch in its mouth.

180711 4 meeting the locals

A large herd of large cows moved reluctantly away from the river so we could pass by. You’d have to be crazy to mess with this lady, who was keeping a steady eye on us in case we ventured too close to her calves.

180711 5 participants

The fifteen participants … well, fourteen really, as I was taking the photo.

180711 6 river ely

The meandering River Ely was running low due to the recent drought conditions here in south Wales.

As well as birds, we also saw lots of butterflies, including these: Cinnabar caterpillars, Comma, Green-veined white, Meadow brown, Peacock, and more Small tortoiseshell than I’ve ever seen in one day before.

180711 7 sandmartins

The highlight of the day for me was watching these Sand martins hawking for food over the fields and then returning to their burrows in the river bank to feed their hungry young. Magic!