www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

I was delighted to find a colony of wall today (at least 5 individuals) on a disused railway cutting, not a mile from my house near Ainderby Steeple (North Yorks), quite some way from the coast! Reading the description on this website, it would seem that is unusual. To affirm my delight, I later found an individual on the outside of my house.

Is this really that unusual? I can't remember living anywhere where I didn't see at least one wall.

Wow - congratulations! Inform your local BC branch immediately

Actually - I don't think it's *that* unusual at all to find Wall inland. In fact, most of the sightings I've had are inland, come to think of it. I'll ping Adrian Hoskins (who wrote the description) - I'm sure this is just a generalisation. This is shown on the distribution map at:

http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/distribu ... _name=Wall

The Grayling, on the other hand, would definitely suggest a coastal distribution. See:

http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/distribu ... e=Grayling

Cheers,

- Pete

Well, last year I (probably was) I a grayling when I was at Belfast Zoo, up in the mountain region. First time I ever saw one. Nearly positive it was. I could have been a wall, but amost certian it was a grayling. Had no camera that time. This year when i go back, I will look out.

Hi all

My personal experience, and that of the majority of observers and writers is that the Wall was found well inland up until the 1970's but then gradually contracted it's range to more coastal areas until by 2000 it was rarely found more than 20 miles inland. Most of the colonies I know are within 10 miles of the coast e.g. in Hants, Sussex, Dorset, Isle of Wight, Norfolf etc. Individuals are reorted from inland sites periodically but I belive that generally it is still considered to be primarily a coastal species. There are signs of a recovery however, with more inland records reported in the last 3 or 4 years. I'd strongly recommend reorting ALL Wall sightings to Butterfly Conservation so that the progress of the butt can be followed closely.

Adrian Hoskins
http://www.learnaboutbutterflies.com

Some interesting thoughts on the declining Wall Brown here:

http://www.cambs-essex-butterflies.org. ... ns.html#WB

I saw wall at several different sites in the Harrogate and Knaresborough area last year (60+ miles from the coast) and have already seen one this year at Wharram Quarry, near Malton (at least 20 miles inland). Perhaps this coastal thing is a southern phenomenon?

you may be right, David. In fact the link that Matsukaze posted suggests that Wall have retreated to the coast and northern locations.