To the average British gardener there are three main categories of butterfly: the big colourful ones that flock to your buddleia bush, the small ones (interesting if you like that kind of thing) and the Cabbage Whites.

 

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The name Cabbage White is applied to both the Large (Pieris brassicae) and Small White (Pieris rapae), creamy white butterflies with black spots and wing tips which vary according  to species, gender and brood.  To a gardener or allotment holder the significant characteristic of these insects is the voracious appetite of their caterpillars. Where other species of butterfly are welcome garden visitors, these are pests.  Fluttering over the lavender bushes, their delicate wings backlit by the sun, they are beautiful none the less.