Belongs to: brown butterflies
Wall brown Lasiommata megera
Also known as: wall
dramatic recent decline
Best time to see: May to early Sep
Key facts
A brown butterfly of rough grassland with sunbaked open ground
Habitat: wasteland and disturbed ground
Common through lowland Wales and England
Recognition
Bright orange upperside with dark borders and wavy lines and a white-pupilled black eyespot; underside paler
Often basks on bare ground, such as paths, with wings two-thirds open
Fly rapidly for a short way when disturbed, before settling on another bare patch; wingspan 4.5 cm
Lifecycle
Spherical white eggs laid singly or in small clusters on blades of grass in late spring, late summer and sometimes autumn
Bluish-green caterpillars feed on coarse grasses, earlier broods pupating after about a month, later ones hibernating until early spring
© Iris Newbery
© Iris Newbery