The Green Veined White is a numerous butterfly, and is the most widely distributed of all of the British white species, it is found across most of Great Britain and Ireland including most of our islands, except in Shetland in the very far north.   It is an easy species to find during our warmer months.

It has a long flight period from April throughout the summer on to late September where it can be found in any suitable habitat from grassland, forest, gardens, etc. There are two or three flight periods during the summer, but given weather and geographical variance, there are usually Green Veined Whites on the wing somewhere.   It has a wingspan of about 45mm and is very similar in appearance to Small White and the female Orange Tip, indeed when in flight it can sometimes be hard to tell these species apart.  Generally Orange Tip is the first of the three to emerge, closely followed by Green Veined, both can be often seen as early as April during warmer years.

Being such a common butterfly, I have seen these butterflies at numerous sites, and generally no one has to travel very far to see them.  Green Veined Whites have several foodplants amongst our wild flowers such as Cuckooflower, Wild Garlic, and Wild Mustard.  But they are also happy to use some of our cultivated garden plants such as Nasturtiums.

The images below were taken at a variety of sites including my Leicestershire garden.