The small white is a familiar butterfly in Dorset seen in almost all possible types of habitat including gardens where it is hated as much as the large white but it actually does far less harm than its large cousin. Stating the obvious, the small white is, indeed, smaller than the large white and although having similar markings they are far less pronounced on the small white; the wing tips are more dark grey than black. The small white also lacks the dark wing veins that the similar green-veined white possess.
The small white flies from April right through until September and possibly in to October although less numerous at the end of June and beginning of July. For such a common species it is odd that there are only 23 reports of small white in 2017 and 2018 combined in the Nature of Dorset database and so it is difficult to draw conclusions about its occurrence here in relation to the text book flight times but certainly emergence in April seems to be confirmed by the reports we have and there is an absence of reports from both June 2017 and June 2018. Peak months here in Dorset appear to be July and October, there are a number of records for November so perhaps they survive longer here on the south coast than further north. There is undoubtedly an inward migration of small whites in most years and may be this accounts for the late sightings?
The distribution map shows just how widely spread small whites are here in Dorset but close examination shows that there may be a preference for grassland sites rather than heathland and, in my experience, one certainly would not expect to see small white on large expanses of heath. The most reports come from the Boscombe and Southbourne Overcliff area but that is a well monitored site for butterflies so is probably not an indicator of habitat preference.
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