Patrick Barkham
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Guardian writer. Books, butterflies, Norfolk Wildlife Trust President. Latest is THE SWIMMER, biography of Roger Deakin. (The silver fox in the Speedos is Rog.)
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Articles by Patrick Barkham
Glowworms shine again in North Yorkshire after larvae reared in garden shed
The bioluminescent beams of "fairy folk" are shining again from a nature reserve in North Yorkshire for the first time in a century after the successful reintroduction of endangered glowworms. Female glowworms were spotted over multiple weeks at Nosterfield nature reserve this summer following a no-frills, almost zero-budget reintroduction of the much-loved invertebrates, which have vanished from the British countryside in recent decades and are notoriously difficult to re-establish.
‘Sharks are my film stars’: how the Jacques Cousteau of the North Sea finally unlocked its beauty
The North Sea, as even its greatest admirers will concede, often glowers an unappetising grey or brown. And we assume that its dull exterior is matched by sediment-filled waters where little life dwells. For years, the friends and family of Peter van Rodijnen wondered why the Dutch cinematographer and diving fanatic spent so much time exploring "this murky bowl of soup".
‘Sharks are my film stars’: how the Jacques Cousteau of the North Sea finally unlocked its beauty
The North Sea, as even its greatest admirers will concede, often glowers an unappetising grey or brown. And we assume that its dull exterior is matched by sediment-filled waters where little life dwells. For years, the friends and family of Peter van Rodijnen wondered why the Dutch cinematographer and diving fanatic spent so much time exploring "this murky bowl of soup".
‘Sharks are my film stars’: how the Jacques Cousteau of the North Sea finally unlocked its beauty
The North Sea, as even its greatest admirers will concede, often glowers an unappetising grey or brown. And we assume that its dull exterior is matched by sediment-filled waters where little life dwells. For years, the friends and family of Peter van Rodijnen wondered why the Dutch cinematographer and diving fanatic spent so much time exploring “this murky bowl of soup”.
‘Britain's Yellowstone': restoration project aims to take the greed out of land acquisition
It is difficult to find the most remote place in England. There is no public transport, no roads and no sign of any human habitation. Online route finders mistakenly direct cars up a grassy track. But miles along gravel forest roads in the far north of Northumberland is the largest contiguous rewilding site under single ownership in the country.
‘Britain’s Yellowstone’: restoration project aims to take the greed out of land acquisition
It is difficult to find the most remote place in England. There is no public transport, no roads and no sign of any human habitation. Online route finders mistakenly direct cars up a grassy track. But miles along gravel forest roads in the far north of Northumberland is the largest contiguous rewilding site under single ownership in the country.
‘Britain’s Yellowstone’: restoration project aims to take the greed out of land acquisition
It is difficult to find the most remote place in England. There is no public transport, no roads and no sign of any human habitation. Online route finders mistakenly direct cars up a grassy track. But miles along gravel forest roads in the far north of Northumberland is the largest contiguous rewilding site under single ownership in the country.
‘Britain’s Yellowstone’: restoration project aims to take the greed out of land acquisition
It is difficult to find the most remote place in England. There is no public transport, no roads and no sign of any human habitation. Online route finders mistakenly direct cars up a grassy track. But miles along gravel forest roads in the far north of Northumberland is the largest contiguous rewilding site under single ownership in the country.
‘Britain’s Yellowstone’: restoration project aims to take the greed out of land acquisition
It is difficult to find the most remote place in England. There is no public transport, no roads and no sign of any human habitation. Online route finders mistakenly direct cars up a grassy track. But miles along gravel forest roads in the far north of Northumberland is the largest contiguous rewilding site under single ownership in the country.
‘Britain’s Yellowstone’: restoration project aims to take the greed out of land acquisition
It is difficult to find the most remote place in England. There is no public transport, no roads and no sign of any human habitation. Online route finders mistakenly direct cars up a grassy track. But miles along gravel forest roads in the far north of Northumberland is the largest contiguous rewilding site under single ownership in the country.
‘Nature thrives when given a chance': restored Cheshire wetland now a haven for rare grebe
A dumping ground for dredgings from the Manchester Ship Canal has become the best place in Britain for the rare and beautiful black-necked grebe, hosting 64% of Britain's breeding population. Since 2021, Woolston Eyes in Cheshire has been restored, extended and turned into a mosaic of freshwater pools, reedbeds, willow scrub and rough grassland, managed by the RSPB and Woolston Eyes Conservation Group.
‘I love it. It's hope': The mysterious self-willed wildflower meadow that seeded itself
Tucked away on a country lane, a small field bursts with yellow and pink flowers. Quail and whitethroats call from the thick hedges and the plants, including common centaury, yellow rattle and marsh and common spotted orchids, bounce with hoverflies and butterflies. More than 150 plant species have been recorded on Sayer's Old Meadow, in north Norfolk, England, which is remarkable when there was just one – oilseed rape – growing there 21 years ago.
Winner of Invertebrate of the Year 2026 crowned – and it is the size of a grain of rice
Hundreds of thousands of readers around the world read about and shared their appreciation for the spineless creatures who make up the majority of animal life on Earth. Illustration: Petra Korlević/The Guardian The leaf sheep, Costasiella kuroshimae, triumphed in the global ballot after hundreds of thousands of readers around the world read about and shared their appreciation for the spineless creatures who make up the majority of animal life on Earth.
Winner of Invertebrate of the Year 2026 crowned – and it is the size of a grain of rice
Related: 'You'd want one as a pet': the irresistibly cute solar-powered sea slug A neon green solar-powered slug that lives underwater is the winner of the increasingly popular Invertebrate of the Year competition run by the Guardian. The leaf sheep, Costasiella kuroshimae, triumphed in the global ballot after hundreds of thousands of readers around the world read about and shared their appreciation for the spineless creatures who make up the majority of animal life on Earth.
Stuff of nightmares? Meet the bootlace worm – super-long, super-elastic, and it fires toxic slime
It's the shuddery stuff of nightmares for some, but for a select group who admire extending ladders, giraffes and the Odyssey, one of the longest animals in the world is bound to appeal. This creature is not the blue whale, nor a lion's mane jellyfish but the humble bootlace worm, Lineus longissimus, one of the most remarkable marine invertebrates of them all. It can stretch out longer than an Olympic swimming pool.
‘Panda of the insect world’: the moscardón bumblebee creates buzz for invertebrate of the year
We all love bumblebees. Not only are they beautiful, busy and social, they perform pollination services that are crucial for plants, crops and human civilisation. Any bumblebee would be a worthy winner of invertebrate of the year but a gorgeous giant ginger bumblebee fondly known as the flying mouse? Come on! There are about 250 species of bumblebee and Bombus dahlbomii is the largest. The gloriously furry females can measure 4cm in length.
‘These are human fires, not wildfires': Dunwich reflects on the devastation
A local community pulling together, emergency services saving homes and caravan parks from catastrophe, and farmers and nature reserve wardens working to rapidly create fire breaks to halt a marauding fireball 40 metres high – there was plenty to praise the week after a swathe of east Suffolk burned But local people were also in tears at the blackened, ruined state of more than 112 hectares (277 acres) of Dunwich Heath, mourning the devastation of a much-loved nature reserve alongside...
‘Fearless and quietly astonishing’: the dragonfly that migrates further than any other insect
All hail the wandering glider, a citizen of the globe, an insect for all of us. Whenever we see a dragonfly zipping through the airspace and devouring tiny insects with aplomb, we can appreciate they are so timelessly effective that they have barely needed to tweak their way of life in 200m years. Odonates are directly descended from some of the earliest winged insects, known as griffin flies, which evolved around 317m years ago.
‘Walking sausage’: the giant stick insect that proves it’s not over till we give up
When small species are left alone to evolve for centuries on small islands, they often become larger. Quietly, over thousands of years, Dryococelus australis grew to a great size on Lord Howe Island, in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand. But the peaceful life of the Lord Howe Island stick insect, an invertebrate of such gargantuan proportions that it is also fondly known as the tree lobster, was destroyed by European settlers. In 1918, a shipwreck brought black rats to the island.
‘You’d want one as a pet’: the irresistibly cute solar-powered sea slug
A neon green punk sheep that lives underwater. A solar-powered slug that can perform photosynthesis. If you are seeking beauty, brains and a wonderfully innovative lifestyle, then vote leaf sheep. Related: Invertebrate of Year Q&A: discuss our countdown with Patrick Barkham The leaf or sea sheep, Costasiella kuroshimae, is a sea slug about the size of a grain of rice.
Invertebrate of Year Q&A: discuss our countdown with Patrick Barkham
Guardian natural history writer Patrick Barkham Illustration: Guardian Design Welcome to the Conversation What do the tardigrade and the earthworm have in common? They are, of course, the two previous winners of the Guardian’s Invertebrate of the Year poll. An annual contest that pits some of the the natural world’s finest species against each other in celebration – and to remind ourselves why beetles, slugs, worms and moths and others play a critical role in the planet’s infrastructure.
Revealed: the top 10 invertebrates of the year
1 The common woodlouse (Oniscus asellus) If there were a prize for the range and joyfulness of a creature’s English-language names, the humble woodlouse would undoubtedly triumph over its million-plus invertebrate rivals … Read more 2 Immortal jellyfish (Turritopsis dohrnii) Immortality is generally considered the realm of the gods or science fiction … Read more 3 Come back Wednesday! To find out which invertebrate is next on our reader-voted list, come back at noon BST tomorrow! Read more...
Revealed: the top 10 invertebrates of the year
Revealed: the top 10 invertebrates of the year Patrick Barkham, Petra Stock and Oliver Milman Mon, August 3, 2026 at 11:00 a.m. UTC Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Illustration: Petra Korlević/The Guardian 1 The common woodlouse (Oniscus asellus) If there were a prize for the range and joyfulness of a creature's English-language names, the humble woodlouse would undoubtedly triumph over its million-plus invertebrate rivals … 2 Come back Tuesday!
‘They are such neat, busy little folk’: the unexpected superpowers of the common woodlouse
Chucky pig. Slater. Monkey pea. Roly-poly. Boat-builder. Butchy boy. Cheeselog. Hobbling Andrew. Wood pig. If there were a prize for the range and joyfulness of a creature's English-language names, the humble woodlouse would undoubtedly triumph over its million-plus invertebrate rivals. Over centuries of easy cohabitation with humans, it has acquired more than 300 regional names in Britain alone, and many more in other languages (such as Gwrach y Coed, "witch of the wood", in Welsh).
Revealed: the top 10 invertebrates of the year
(Oniscus asellus) If there were a prize for the range and joyfulness of a creature's English-language names, the humble woodlouse would undoubtedly triumph over its million-plus invertebrate rivals … What's this all about?
‘It makes your heart sing': Can a pioneering project show that rewilding really works?
In the silent countryside south of Grantham, three vast steel barns rattled in the breeze. Gathered in a loose circle beside them were 15 landowners, land agents and a couple of young investors; all expensively dressed men, many with a sceptical mien.
British swallowtail split from European cousins much earlier than thought, study finds
The endangered swallowtail butterfly Papilio machaon britannicus, which is only regularly found breeding in Britain on the Norfolk Broads, has been a distinct subspecies for at least 200,000 years, according to a study. Smaller, darker in colour and much rarer than the continental swallowtail, britannicus was previously considered to have developed its distinctive form during its confinement in the wetlands of eastern England over the last 8,000 years, after the flooding of Doggerland.
Hunting the tardigrade: one small step in sequencing DNA of all life on Earth
Witek Morek is closely inspecting an old brick-and-flint wall on the Cambridgeshire campus of the Wellcome Sanger Institute. "We are going to use a very advanced tool designed by bioengineers and evolved over millions of years – the human hand – and grab some moss, and put it in an envelope," he says. This is tardigrade hunting, the first small step in a gargantuan, wildly ambitious scientific undertaking: to sequence the genomes of all life on Earth.
Nominate your invertebrate of the year
Step aside World Cup heroes, there's a bigger global competition in town. The whistle has been blown to launch the third Invertebrate of the Year contest. We want you to nominate your favourite spineless creature for the hugely popular annual Guardian jamboree which celebrates the wonder and importance of the world's invertebrates. Are you enraptured by earthworms? Do you have a crush on cephalopods? Are you barmy about beetles? Blown away by butterflies? Mad for moths?
‘Living laboratory’: Suffolk agroforestry farm seeks community ownership to survive
The aerial view of Wakelyns matches the experience of visiting it at ground level: in a region dominated by prairie fields of industrial agriculture, here lies a vivid green lung of land. Its sounds and sights in summer – the sleepy purr of the turtle dove, the vivid pink flash of a bullfinch – have vanished from most of the British countryside. But Wakelyns is not a nature reserve – it is a thriving farm, a "living laboratory" for agroforestry and a hub for innovation and business.
Estudo revela que andorinhões migratórios retornam fielmente todos os anos aos ninhos em edifícios
Foto: RSPB / Ben Andrew Segundo um estudo, os andorinhões migratórios retornam fielmente todos os anos aos seus ninhos em edifícios, o que destaca a importância de fornecer tijolos ocos para nidificação a essas aves ameaçadas de extinção, caso os locais de nidificação tradicionais sejam perdidos devido a reformas.
Migrating swifts loyally return every year to nests in buildings, study finds
Migratory swifts loyally return every year to their nests in buildings, according to a study, underlining the importance of providing the endangered birds with hollow nesting bricks if traditional nest sites are lost to renovations. The swift, which is on the red list of conservation concern, is one of Britain's most threatened species, having declined in number by 70% since 1995 because of the loss of nesting sites, often when old buildings are re-roofed or given better insulation.
Migrating swifts loyally return every year to nests in buildings, study finds
Migratory swifts loyally return every year to their nests in buildings, according to a study, underlining the importance of providing the endangered birds with hollow nesting bricks if traditional nest sites are lost to renovations. The swift, which is on the red list of conservation concern, is one of Britain's most threatened species, having declined in number by 70% since 1995 because of the loss of nesting sites, often when old buildings are re-roofed or given better insulation.
Blame the Enlightenment for species extinction
The Butterfly Season: On Beginnings, Endings and the Life in Between Particular Books, pp.320, 25 As if she hadn’t got enough on her plate already, the high-powered Danish journalist and mother of three Lea Korsgaard decides to track down all Danish butterfly species in a single summer.
Piglet, it’s a purple, psychedelic shapeshifter! The wild new creature prowling Winnie-the-Pooh’s wood
The rolling idyll of heath and forest, spinney and stream that gave us the Heffalump, the Woozle and, most famously of all, Winnie-the-Pooh, has a new fantastical resident. Creeping through the bracken, making strange cooing and purring noises, is a shapeshifting creature with a huge tubular nose and eyes inspired by adders. It shimmies with iridescent patches and the psychedelic purple of flowering heather in high summer.
‘Emotional and horrific’: volunteers ‘live’ as Somerset animals to study wildlife risks
What does a kestrel make of the dog sniffing in the long grass below? Why does an exhausted salmon pause before a weir? How will an otter experience the rumble of a passing train? Eighteen people have spent six weeks swimming, slithering and soaring as otters, salmon, earthworms, red deer and kestrels in an attempt to better document the risks for wild animals in our human-dominated landscape.
‘I'm 90 for goodness sake': Rainforest activist to pedal 104 miles down Thames
Pedalling on water for more than a hundred miles in a heatwave, pushed back by east winds and having to navigate 31 locks would be a challenge for anybody. But when that body is 90 years old, with a bad knee, failing balance and malfunctioning arms and shoulders, it's a herculean feat.
‘Most famous tree in the world’: Sherwood Forest’s 1,000-year-old Major oak dies
The Major oak, one of Europe's oldest, largest and most celebrated ancient trees, has died. The huge tree, which has grown in Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire, England, for at least 1,000 years, failed to produce any leaves this year, after becoming stressed by a series of hot, dry summers. Thousands of visitors admire the oak each year, with its great age, enormous 11-metre girth and 28-metre canopy inspiring a forest of folklore.
Honeybees make specialised ‘baby food’ to give larvae balanced diet, study says
Honeybees blend a special "baby food" to give their larvae a balanced diet, with adult bees also able to regulate their feeding to avoid overconsuming certain nutrients, according to a study. Researchers have discovered that bees can adjust how much they eat when pollen sources do not provide them with the ideal balance of essential amino acids, the essential building blocks of protein that animals cannot make for themselves and must obtain from their diet.
Britain’s favourite butterfly revealed – and it’s a familiar backyard beauty
The votes are in on Britain's favourite butterfly, and it is one of the most ubiquitous yet spectacular backyard beauties that has flown to victory. With its lavender, yellow and maroon eye spots and luscious rusty red and black colouration, the peacock butterfly is both beautiful and commonplace, flying throughout spring, summer and autumn in all corners of the British Isles.
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