28/08/2026
FRIDAY FLUTTER #34: Species Of The Week – Wall Brown (Lasiommata megera)
The Wall Brown or “Wall” is a Butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is widespread in the Palearctic realm with a large variety of habitats and number of generations a year. The species gets its name from the fact it rests on any bare surface or wall! It can be found in open, sunny places like sand dunes, old quarries, grasslands and railway cuttings. It is a medium-sized Butterfly with a wingspan of 4.5-5.3cm, which is on the wing in two or three broods, between the middle of April and the end of October. It is a once widespread, but declining Butterfly of hot, sunny places such as open grassland, sand dunes and rocky foreshores, disused quarries and railway cuttings, and even gardens where they love soaking up heat from stone walls, patio slabs, gravel paths and brickwork. It is mainly pale orange with greyish-brown markings and black eyespots. The best way to identify the 'brown' Butterflies is by looking at the eyespots on their wings. The combination of orange and brown markings, together with one large eyespot on the forewing and four smaller eyespots on the hindwing, is unique to the Wall Brown. The Caterpillars feed on a variety of grasses including False Broom, Tor-Grass, Cocksfoot and Yorkshire Fog.
The Wall Brown Butterfly is not globally rare, but it has suffered a massive and severe decline in the UK, making it very scarce or locally rare in many inland regions where it was once common.They are still holding on better in coastal spots, sand dunes, and southern strongholds like the chalk downs. Conservation groups track them as a rapidly declining species rather than a completely lost one, but spotting one inland is now a notable event. Although once quite common, the Wall Brown is now classified as endangered on the GB Red List, due to a severe ongoing population crash across large parts of the UK. It is recognised as a species of principal importance under the NERC act in England and Section 7 of the Environment (Wales) Act. Numbers have plunged drastically since the 20th century, particularly disappearing from inland and southern lowlands, as well as parts of Northern Ireland. Warmer temperatures are causing the presence of extra late season broods, which are unable to survive the winter. Changes in farming and the loss of open, stony ground reduce their basking and breeding areas. Although some species are making a come back, the Wall Brown by contrast was put up from “Near threatened” to “Endangered” because it’s inland populations are still in a severe, rapid collapse. Because they are so endangered, conservationists rely heavily on public data to track where they are surviving. However, climate changed has caused a very strange paradox for the species – warmer temperatures have allowed the Wall Brown to move further north into southern and eastern Scotland, where it is actually increasing. Reports focusing on these specific regional gains can easily give the impression the Butterfly is recovering overall. At the exact same time, the species is completely vanishing from inland Southern England and Wales due to the “lost generation” climate trap, and so it remains a priority species under the UK Biodiversity Framework.
Personally I had never seen a Wall Brown until around 2005 when on a family walk in Gower. We were walking along sandy dunes where lots of pretty wild flowers were in bloom, suddenly I saw a gorgeous orange and browny-grey Butterfly like no other I had ever seen before, nectaring on the wild flowers around 8ft away, a bit higher than myself on the dunes. I was carrying my little Olympus C750 camera and did manage to get a few photo’s on zoom, although not very good ones due to the distance between the Butterfly and myself and the speed at which it flew from flower to flower and settled very briefly (featured photo). I hadn’t seen another one since then, until recently I had one visit my garden, feed from the Knapweed in my mini meadow, and settle on the path.
Acknowledgements:
Featured Photo by Butterfly Whisperer UK
(the Butterfly branch of Utopia Photography)
aka The Butterfly Lady.
Disclaimer: This feature was written from a combination of my own words plus some information borrowed from various other sources.
