
The Green-veined White is a very common and relatively mobile species that occurs throughout Britain and Ireland and can be found almost anywhere, though it prefers damper and slightly more shaded habitats than the Small White such as leafy lanes, riversides, gardens and woodland rides. The caterpillars feed on a range of wild crucifers growing in these situations such as Hedge Garlic (Alliaria petiolata) and Lady's Smock (Cardamine pratensis). (For further details on this species see http://www.butterfly-conservation.org/).
Family: Pieridae
Status: Stable
Status details:
Status since 1976 is Stable with a decrease of -1.9%
Status over the last 20 years is Stable with a decrease of -7.4%
Status over the last 10 years is Rapid decline with a decrease of -37.6%

This chart shows the index of abundance (LCI = Log Collated Index) over time. It shows fluctuations in populations from year to year, and is scaled so that the average index over the whole series is equal to 2 (horizontal line). For greater detail about how this index is derived, click on the green question mark above.
Trend description:
Neither generation show any significant trend, though it is apparent from the first generation graph that there has been a general decline since the massive recovery in 1978 following the drought of 1976 and subsequent first generation crash in 1977.
Distribution...

This map shows the distribution between 1995 and 1999. Data is derived from the Butterflies for the New Millenium dataset via the NBN Gateway (www.searchnbn.net).
Phenology...

Phenology plot
This chart shows the average number of butterflies seen on transects between Arpil and October. The black line gives average counts over the full BMS series (1976 to date) and the red line gives the average for the last year.
Abundance...
Abundance
This map shows symbols for the mean abundance at transect sites, with the size of symbol reflecting the level of abundance. Means are over all years.
Coverage
In total, Green-veined White has been recorded from 894 transects in the Butterfly Monitoring Scheme. Of these, annual indices of abundance have been calculated from 1002 sites, with an average index of 51 individuals per site.
For 448 of these sites, Green-veined White has been recorded well enough to calculate annual indices of abundance in 6 or more years, allowing trends to be calculated.
In 2006, 19823 individuals were recorded from 583 sites, producing annual indices at 432 of these.