Warm welcome for returning butterfly

The wall butterfly, which is occasionally found south of the Border, but has not been seen in Scotland since the 1860s, was spotted by a wildlife enthusiast on Traprain Law in East Lothian.

Alistair Graham, 46, who spotted the insect on the hill while he was out with his camera last week, did not immediately realise that it was a rare species.

"It looked fairly ordinary because it's a light brown colour like a lot of butterflies," he said.

"Then I realised it was a wall butterfly, and although I'd never seen one before, I didn't realise how rare it was."

Mr Graham, an engineer from Bonnyrigg, added: "The Lothian Wildlife Information Centre had sent me a list of regularly-sighted butterflies in the area and when I checked that, it wasn't on it, so I knew then it must be quite rare.

"That's when I phoned them and sent my photo to check it was what I thought it was."

Keen photographer Mr Graham was out to take pictures of low-flying planes and wildlife when he spotted the wall butterfly.

"It was a warm day and I'd sat down for a minute and closed my eyes," he said. "The next thing I knew, I woke up and saw the butterfly. I tried to take some pictures of it, but it was too flighty for me to get anything clear.

"I think there's a whole colony of them up there - probably about half a dozen in total," he added.

Bob Saville, of Lothian Wildlife Information Centre, confirmed it was the first reported sighting in the Lothians for more than 150 years. He said: "It is incredibly exciting that we now have an established colony here.

"I have been waiting 15 years to see one after there were reported sightings in the Borders and its wonderful that they are now moving further north."

He added: "The wall butterfly disappeared over large parts of Britain after a series of very cold summers in the 1860s. They are still found in England, but the warmer weather nowadays means they are returning to Scotland.

"There are a number of reasons behind this, but climate change is certainly one of the major factors. I would urge people who see a wall butterfly to contact us."

The wall butterfly, also known as lasiommata megera, is about 44mm long and is orange-brown marked with dark brown. The species, which is commonly found across the rest of Europe, is most likely to be spotted on craggy rocks in the sunshine.

Stuart Brooks, head of conservation at the Scottish Wildlife Trust, added: "This species used to be quite common all over Britain.

It is good news that they are colonising again."