Butterfly - Orange Tip

Orange Tip (Anthocharis cardamines)

wingspan: 3.8 - 4.8 cm;

male : white,

black tip to fore-wing

and a large orange

patch;

underside mottled;

female as male, but no

orange patch.

larval

foodplant: Lady's smock,

Hedge-mustard

I find this butterfly easily confused with the Small White (Pieris rapae). In fact I have been doing that for the past 8 years. I recently planted some Lady's Smock (Cardamine praetensis) in the only damp, sunny part of the site; in the hope of attracting these butterflies.

This spring I began noticing lots of what appeared to be, very small, Small Whites. When one of them eventually landed next to me, I realised that it was actually an Orange Tip all along. But frequenting a part of the site that it wasn't supposed to. They are very busy little things and don't want their picture taken.

First Sighting - April 2007

Highest yearly counts

2007 (May) - 6

2008 (May) - 2

2009 (May) - 5

2010 (May) - 6

2010 sightings:

April

w/e

May

w/e

3rd

10th

17th

24th

1st

9th

16th

23rd

2011 sightings:

April w/e				May w/e
9th	16th	23rd	30th	7th	14th
3	5	4	5	6	4