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Wood White

Leptidea sinapis

Not yet photographed by the community

Weak fluttery flight; rounded white wings; ancient woodland rides.

Species Profile

UK Red List; classified as Nationally Scarce and in significant decline.

Lifespan: 2–4 weeks as an adult butterfly
Size & Weight: wingspan 28–35 mm
Habitat: Open woodland rides, clearings, and grassland margins with abundant bird's-foot trefoil and other legume plants.
UK Distribution: Resident in southern England and Wales, with populations mostly confined to southern counties; range has contracted significantly in recent decades and is now patchily distributed.
Diet: Adults feed on nectar from wildflowers including bird's-foot trefoil, bugle, and germander speedwell.
Predators: Spiders, robber flies, birds, and small predatory insects.
Mating Season: May to August, typically with two generations per year in the UK.
Breeding: Females lay eggs singly on bird's-foot trefoil and other Lathyrus species; caterpillars are green and well-camouflaged; pupation occurs within a silken girdle on the foodplant.
Behaviour: Wood Whites are weak, fluttering fliers that rarely venture far from their foodplants. Males patrol low vegetation searching for females. The species is sensitive to habitat fragmentation and requires continuous woodland rides or clearings with suitable larval plants.

Did You Know?

•The Wood White is the smallest white butterfly species regularly found in the UK.
•It has a distinctive weak, bobbing flight pattern quite unlike other British butterflies.
•The species is now extinct or extremely rare in many former strongholds due to loss of suitable woodland management.
•Both spring and summer broods exist, with the summer generation typically being smaller and paler.
•Males perform a characteristic territorial 'dancing' flight along woodland margins where females are likely to emerge.

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