Yesterday morning I made my seventh trip to Deep Dean in search of the Grayling. Having fruitlessly looked in the usual places I then explored the periphery with no luck either. The last three butterfly species to got extinct in Sussex were Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary, Large Tortoiseshell and Black Veined White. The return of the latter next year (see Knepp podcast 51 - "The Return of the Black-veined White") will mean that all these species have returned to Sussex, either naturally or through reintroduction. However the Grayling at Deep Dean are the last of their race and once they are gone there is no hope of them returning at all. We are witnessing a catastrophe.