Patrick Barkham

@patrickbarkham.bsky.social

11695 Followers 316 Following

Guardian Natural History Writer, author of The Swimmer – the Wild Life of Roger Deakin, Wild Child, Islander, Badgerlands, The Butterfly Isles and a few others. President of Norfolk Wildlife Trust. Special interests: butterflies, trees, restoring nature.

A beautiful big pink hollyhock flower with some buddleia in the background
A brown miniature dachshund (Betty) lying in the sunshine in a grassy garden with a Small White butterfly fluttering at lavender in the foreground. In the background is a long grass garden “meadow” filled with unseen Meadow Brown butterflies.
Picture showing Patrick Barkham's The Butterfly Isles book and James Lowen's Much Ado About Mothing – two "nature quest" narrative non-fiction books where a slightly obsessed author goes off to find every one of a certain type of species...
Swallowtail butterfly side on, silhouetted by sunshine against the blue sky, feeding on purple marsh thistle
A Painted Lady butterfly, slightly faded, wings outstretched and feeding on bramble flowers at NWT Hickling nature reserve in Norfolk
A British Swallowtail butterfly with wings outstretched, feeding on bramble flower at NWT Hickling nature reserve on the Norfolk Broads. This butterfly looks like an escapee from a tropical butterfly house and dwarfs all other butterflies.
Picture of Patrick Barkham in his badger onesie with badger mask standing on the Mall biting his medal at the colourful finish line of the 2026 London Marathon.
Video showing foolish man in a badger costume running through a field of yellow flowering oilseed rape (not trampling the crop) and putting his thumbs up to the camera. Taken by Joshua Bright.
Chris Packham standing in woodland talking to a group of young conservationists, surrounded by oaks and sycamores just coming into brilliant green leaf.
The River Bure at Horstead Mill, a beautiful tranquil stretch of lowland river overhung by budding willows and alders. Photo taken at 8.30am this morning - a perfect spring morning, blue sky, blue water.
A large British Swallowtail butterfly - with tiger stripes of black and yellow - perched on a yellow flag iris at Norfolk Wildlife Trust Hickling reserve. Pic by Liz Dack.
John Barkham picking blackberries in 1981, shirt open, mass of dark curls, beard and friendly smile
Photo of page from Guardian Weekend magazine showing Patrick’s 13-year-old daughter Milly and the starting words of a long feature story about her battle with Lyme Disease which was missed by the NHS for years.
Red admiral butterfly on ivy flower
Tubs of little bright green baby oak trees, growing well in individual pots
Swallowtail in flight by Andrew Fusek Peters
A pair of Apollo butterflies nectaring on a purple thistle
Met Office weather forecast for Hoveton (Norfolk) next 5 days - full sun each day
Billy Bragg playing guitar and singing on the picket line outside the Guardian office – joining hundreds of journalists protesting against the disposal of the Observer.
Small plant pots each housing an acorn are now covered in mouse-proof gauze
Acorns to produce oak trees for Norfolk Wildlife Trust's 100th birthday sniffed out and eaten by mice