Wall Brown - Clough Wood

At least three Wall Brown on the wing this morning at Clough Wood despite a rather overcast and windy start to the day.

Wall Brown

The Wall Brown has suffered very mixed fortunes during the past decade or so. One theory that has been suggested is that the butterfly may be a victim of climate change as warmer weather is causing a further generation to hatch too late in the year for their ensuing caterpillars to survive to the following year.
I've copied the distribution in Derbyshire from a short article published by Ken Orpe on the East Midlands Butterfly Conservation web site.

Wall Brown in 2000 recorded in 110 tetrads

Wall Brown in 2008 recorded in 19 tetrads

Wall Brown in 2013 recorded in 54 tetrads

He went on to comment that;

'During 2014, only 10 of the 59 sites that had transects carried out in the County had sightings of this species and the overall total was just 43 individuals, half of which were seen at the Clough Wood site.'

Which shows how important Clough Wood has been for the butterfly in Derbyshire.