Pete > LTB has no commercial value at all... so I doubt anyone would collect them for "profit". It would not even pay for the gaz. Except historic specimens or rare aberrations, UK butterflies has no value at all on the market. My point is a collector cannot "wipe out" a colony o...

"it can never be proved that collectors were the primary cause of the specimens disappearing" --> true "just as it can never be proved that they weren't." --> well for African/ South European LTB living in the UK, it should be able to prove it easily. For other species/spots, let...

LTB is a migrant species. There is no such thing as an "English colony" of LTB. They didn't even settle permanently in Northern France. Those specimens must have migrated South as they naturally do, or been killed by a too fresh night. I find the whole story about "the guy with the ne...