Underwing mottled-brown. Appears larger in flight when pale yellow-orange bands can be seen. Cryptic colouring provides the Grayling with excellent camouflage, making it difficult to see when at rest on bare ground, tree trunks, or stones. The wings are kept closed when not in flight and the fore wings are usually tucked behind the hind wings, concealing the eyespots and making the butterfly appear smaller. In flight this is a distinctive, large butterfly with a looping and gliding flight, during which the paler bands on the upperwings are visible.
The Grayling is widespread on the coast and southern heaths, but is declining in many areas, particularly inland.
Many colonies are coastal, on dunes, saltmarsh, undercliffs, and clifftops. Inland, colonies are found on dry heathland, calcareous grassland, old quarries, earthworks, derelict industrial sites such as old spoil heaps and, in a few areas, in open woodland on stony ground. It occurs on a wide range of soil types, but all are dry and well-drained, with sparse vegetation and plenty of bare ground in open positions.
