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| UK Status |
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| Resident |
A species which is continually Resident in the UK with stable breeding populations. |
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| Migrant |
A species which occurs as a Migrant in the UK. It may be able to breed here although they are usually unable to survive our winter months. Migrants are normally reported in the UK every year. |
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| Rare Migrant |
A species which occurs as a Rare Migrant in the UK. It may able to breed here although they are usually unable to survive our winter months. Rare Migrants may not be seen for many years. |
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| Extinct |
A species which is Extinct in the UK, usually as a result of habitat loss. |
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| Introduction |
A species which ocurs in the UK as an accidental introduction. |
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Description
The Orange-tip is a distinctive spring butterfly. It is a medium sized butterfly which is often seen in gardens and along hedgerows and roadside verges especially in areas where water occurs. It is fairly Common throughout England Wales and Scotland but is absent from the far north of the British Isles.
Male Orange-tips have white wings with vivid orange wing tips with a dark spot where the white and orange areas of the forewing meet. Females are white with black wing tips. Both the male and female have mottled pattern of yellow and black scales on the underside of their wings. This provides excellent camouflage when the butterfly is at rest on foliage with its wings closed.
Adult Orange-tip butterflies are on the wing between mid-April and mid-June during which time, the females lay their eggs singly on a variety of foodplants in bright sunshine within damp meadows or road verges, disused railway lines and ditches. On hatching, the larvae immediately eat the egg shell before feeding on the host plant. The larvae eat the seeds, developing seed pods and flower-heads. By the fourth instar the larvae may eat upto 6 Garlic Mustard seed pods in a day pausing every so often to rest.
The caterpillars of the Orange-tip are know to be cannibalistic and it is thought that a single Cuckooflower plant can sustain only one larvae.
The pupae form in June/July and do not hatch until the following spring although is some areas in favorable conditions, a second brood may be possible where some pupae hatch in July.
Habitat
This butterfly is usually seen in damp grassy habitats or river banks where Cuckooflower (also known as Lady's Smock) the primary larvae foodplant grows. It is also common along hedgerows where Garlic or Hedge Mustard is found.
Larval Food Plants
A variety of plants are using including Cuckooflower or Lady's Smock (Cardamine pratensis) Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata) Hedge Mustard (Sisymbrium officinale), Turnip (Brassica rapa), Charlock (Sinapis avensis), Hairy Rock-cress (Arabis hirsuta) and Winter-cress (Barbarea vulgaris).
The Orange-Tip also lays its eggs on Honesty (Lunaria annua) and Dame's-violet (Hesperis matronalis) in gardens although the larval survival on these plants is poor.
British Subspecies
The following sub-species of the Orange-tip occur in the UK.
 Orange-tip - Anthocharis cardamines britannica (Verity, 1908) - Occurs in England (excluding Isle of Man), Wales and Scotland.
Orange-tip - Anthocharis cardamines hibernica (Williams, 1915) - Occurs in Ireland and Isle of Man only.This subspecies is slightly smaller with minor colour differences.
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| Stock Photography Library |
| We have 10 photographs of the Orange-tip in the British Butterflies photo library |
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BB1073 - Orange-tip
DSC_9721.JPG
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BB1072 - Orange-tip
DSC_9212.JPG
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BB1071 - Orange-tip
DSC_9195.JPG
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BB1070 - Orange-tip
DSC_8732.JPG
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BB319 - Orange-tip
DSC_8547.JPG
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BB318 - Orange-tip
DSC_8543.JPG
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BB317 - Orange-tip
DSC_8436.JPG
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BB263 - Orange-tip
DSCN0908.JPG
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| Distribution |
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| Throughout the UK except parts of northern Scotland. |
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| Where to see the Orange-tip |
| Throughout the UK except parts of northern Scotland. |
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| Population Trends |
| species status |
the Orange-tip is a resident species in Britain |
| population trend1 |
(1995-2004)  down by -8% |
(1976-2004)  up by 22% |
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1Fox, R., Asher. J., Brereton. T., Roy, D & Warren, M.
(2006) The State of Butterflies in Britain & Ireland, Pices, Oxford. |
| UK Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) Status |
| UK BAP status2 |
not listed (link) |
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| 2 For more information about the UK Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) species status, visit www.ukbap.org.uk. |
| IUCN Category Status |
| IUCN category3 |
 least concern4 |
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3 Fox, R., Warren, M & Brereton, T.
(2007) New Red List of British Butterflies. Butterfly Conservation, Wareham.
4 More information about IUCN categories available here. |
| Find Out More Online* |
| More information about the Orange-tip can be found on Peter Eeles excellent UK Butterflies web site. |
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Aberrations and Forms |
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| We currently know of 15 named aberrant forms of the Orange-tip. More information about aberrants can be found here. |
 ab. androgyna - Newnham (1900) |
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| ab. antiquincunx - Bryk (1923) |
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| ab. deaurata - Williams (1959) |
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| ab. lasthenia - Millière (1860) |
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| ab. lineata - Lempke (1953) |
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| ab. luteola - Stephan (1923) |
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| ab. macula-punctata - Frohawk (1938) |
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| ab. ochreacea - Sälzl (1936) |
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| ab. reducta - Masowicz (1923) |
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| ab. salmonea - Oberthür (1909) |
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| ab. sassafrana - Oberthür (1909) |
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| ab. saxonia - Hering (1912) |
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| ab. striata - Pionneau (1924) |
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| ab. turritis - Ochsenheimer (1816) |
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| ab. williamsi - Greer (1928) |
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| References |
| The information on this web site comes from a variety of freely available resources including books, academic reports and web sites alongside my own personal observations of butterflies. The species descriptions are currently in the process of being edited (spring 2009) to include new data, recent personal observations and referencing following a major update to the site.
A complete list of references mentioned in the text on this web site is available here. |
| * External Links Disclaimer |
| This web site includes links to information provided by external web sites which are not in any way under the control of www.britishbutterflies.co.uk. We cannot, therefore, be held responsible for the content of external web pages. |
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40-52mm
