Butterfly Survey 1976-2025
Wall Brown
_-_Wall_Brown_-_Lasiommata_megera_-_Mauerfuchs_(21493780080).jpg)
typical top - abberant below
wingspan: 40mm
Personal study: When I started looking at butterflies in the late 1960's this was a very common butterfly. It would be found on open patches and rough areas adjacent to farmland, also present on downland around White Hill where this dark version was photographed. The butterfly was also present in large parks and gardens. The 'Wall' butterfly gets its common name from the habit of sunning upon walls, where it was most noticable, but it also settled on bare patches of sun baked earth.
Contemporary recording: Now very scarce - none recorded since the late nineteen eighties in this area of the study. During that period it was not recorded at all in Bromley. In 1993 Eric Philp wrote that the butterfly was more prevalent in coastal areas than inland and that it was not common elsewhere in Kent. This trend seems to have continued and all the records I've seen recently have all been from areas adjacent to the South Coast, Thames and Medway, but with a shift in emergence times of a whole month - see 2025 emergence wall brown
HISTORY: Chalmers Hunt writes of both contraction and expansion of ths butterflies range - sound familiar to recent experience! 1900 the butterfly was widespread in all areas, but then contracted until the 1930's when it substantially revived, which stayed the case up until his time of writing 1960's (mirroring my experience in the London-Kent areas). He gives it as double brooded, with occasional third partial broods. The years he mentions coincide with extended summers 1893 1933 1943 1947 - 50. Earliest recorded emergents - April 23rd 1957 latest emergent - 1947 Oct 26th
Double brooded - might be seen on the wing from spring onwards and again in mid Summer until late September/October see chart to the right
Larval Foodplant: grasses (cock's foot)
© Rodney Compton