In long-term decline

24 Thursday Apr 2025

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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

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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

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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

Green-veined whites

27 Tuesday Sep 2022

Posted by sconzani in insects

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

I don’t know what it’s like where you are but there seem to be gazillions of Small white butterflies around here at the moment, which is why, when I noticed a single Green-veined white butterfly, it stood out like a sore thumb. And then it occurred to me that I hadn’t really covered the various whites much on the blog this butterfly season. So, before all the butterflies fade away for the year, I am going to remedy that, and I will start by showcasing the Green-veined whites (Pieris napi), which are so much easier to identify precisely because of their ‘green veins’, which, the UK Butterflies website reminds me, are not actually green at all but rather ‘an illusion created by a subtle combination of yellow and black scales’. And here they are …

220927 green-veined white

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)