www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

In the Letters page of yesterday's Daily Mail, a correspondent informs us that 6 species of butterfly have become extinct in Britain since the nineteen sixties. These are (and I quote from the letter, including punctuation)
'the large, blue Camberwell beauty, the chequered skipper: the large copper: the silver spotted skipper:
and the high brown fritillary'.
Interestingly, a misplaced comma has created a new species whilst the other 'facts' speak for themselves. I have written to the Daily Mail.
Alex

Is a misplaced comma another lost species?

Guy

Hi Guy
How did I know that you were going to ask that?!!
Alex

Absolutely ridiculous. I saw a Large only this morning.

Cheers,

- Pete

Sweet, a Large! Was that what I saw earlier? And a blue camerwell beauty must be a rare sight to see too, more so than our regualr one

high brown fritillary not extinct either

I think the Brimstone is extinct on the Lleyn Peninsula, unless someone has seen one, please let me know where else I can look. Indeed confused.
Shirley

Has the camberwell beauty ever been native to Britain in recent times? It's my understanding that it has always needed the sustained cold of continental winters in order to hibernate successfully, and this hasn't been attainable for long before climate change became topical.