Pictured: small white, Pieris rapae
Notes from Jenyns: Common everywhere: the larvae is partial to the mignonette, which it often strips of its leaves. ~
200-year trend in Cambridgeshire: Probable decline.
Modern records
Historical notes such as this and modern recording show this species to have always been common across the county. However, the use of pesticides on its foodplant, cabbage, will have probably reduced the total population of small white butterflies since Jenyns’ day.
National records map
Small white national records map: https://species.nbnatlas.org/species/NHMSYS0000503832
