#patrickbarkham — Public Fediverse posts

Stuff of nightmares? Meet the bootlace worm – super-long, super-elastic, and it fires toxic slime
By Patrick Barkham

Its mucus, which can kill crabs and cockroaches, could be the basis of new insecticides

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/aug/10/bootlace-worm-invertebrate-of-the-year-2026

#Marinelife #Environment #TheGuardian #PatrickBarkham

‘Panda of the insect world’: the moscardón bumblebee creates buzz for invertebrate of the year
By Patrick Barkham

Bombus dahlbomii, a giant ginger bumblebee fondly known as the flying mouse, is in decline in its native Patagonia due to commercial farming

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/aug/09/moscardon-bumblebee-invertebrate-of-the-year-2026

#Environment #Bees #Insects #Wildlife #Animals #TheGuardian #PatrickBarkham

‘These are human fires, not wildfires’: Dunwich reflects on the devastation
By Patrick Barkham and Pippa Neill

As residents, nature wardens and experts consider the damage to the heathland and how to restore it, the climate crisis is foremost in their minds

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/aug/09/these-are-human-fires-not-wildfires-dunwich-reflects-on-the-devastation

#Suffolk #Wildfires #Climatecrisis #Environment #UKnews #Birds #Wildlife #England #Conservation #TheNationalTrust #RSPB #Endangeredhabitats #Animals #Invertebrates #Insects #TheGuardian #PatrickBarkham #PippaNeill

‘Fearless and quietly astonishing’: the dragonfly that migrates further than any other insect
By Patrick Barkham

Wandering gliders are descended from some of the earliest known insects – and breed as one global population

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/aug/08/fearless-and-quietly-astonishing-the-dragonfly-that-migrates-further-than-any-other-insect

#Environment #TheGuardian #PatrickBarkham

‘Walking sausage’: the giant stick insect that proves it’s not over till we give up
By Patrick Barkham

Also known as the tree lobster, this ultra-rare creature was inadvertently driven to the brink by European settlers

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/aug/07/lord-howe-island-giant-stick-insect-tree-lobster-invertebrate-of-year-2026

#Environment #Insects #Animals #Wildlife #Worldnews #Australianews #TheGuardian #PatrickBarkham

‘You’d want one as a pet’: the irresistibly cute solar-powered sea slug
By Patrick Barkham

The beady-eyed, Pokémon-like leaf sheep is far more ingenious than us land mammals

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/aug/05/leaf-sheep-sea-slug-invertebrates-of-year-2026

#Invertebrates #Marinelife #Environment #Wildlife #TheGuardian #PatrickBarkham

Revealed: the top 10 invertebrates of the year
By Patrick Barkham, Petra Stock and Oliver Milman

At last! It’s time for our invertebrate of the year competition as voted for by you. Today, the common woodlouse – come back on Tuesday to find out who else made the top 10

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2026/aug/03/revealed-top-10-invertebrates-of-the-year

#Insects #Wildlife #Animals #Environment #TheGuardian #PatrickBarkham #PetraStock #OliverMilman

‘They are such neat, busy little folk’: the unexpected superpowers of the common woodlouse
By Patrick Barkham

This detritivore – known by a range of colourful names – tidies up our world and can withstand toxic pollution

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/aug/03/common-woodlouse-invertebrate-of-the-year

#Insects #Wildlife #Environment #TheGuardian #PatrickBarkham

Nominate your invertebrate of the year
By Patrick Barkham and Guardian community team

We’re asking people from around the world to nominate their favourite spineless species for our third Invertebrate of the Year competition

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jul/01/nominate-your-invertebrate-of-the-year

#Environment #TheGuardian #PatrickBarkham #Guardiancommunityteam

In this Guardian "Long Read", natural-history writer Patrick Barkham travels along the massive construction site for the HS2 high-speed track between London and Birmingham.

The sheer scale of this project is hard to grasp --- I followed Barkham's account on satellite map images, and you can see the track site even when fully zoomed out, a yellow-brown scar cutting through England.

Barkham talks to affected residents, managers, campaigners. We see ruthlessness, we see unimaginable waste, we also see exemplary practices and occasional generosity. A nuanced, thoughtful piece that helps us make the connection between a mega-scale project and its impact on a local level. Very much worth reading.

And good photographs too, by The Guardian's Gill Mead.

https://www.theguardian.com/news/ng-interactive/2025/dec/16/we-hate-it-its-desecration-the-real-cost-of-hs2

#HS2 #UKTranport #Rail #MegaProjects #PatrickBarkham #JillMead

The flying insect population in the United Kingdom has evidently dropped off by 64% since 2004: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/dec/15/flying-insect-numbers-plunge-64-since-2004-uk-survey-finds

#patrickbarkham #insects #guardian #theguardian #populationcollapse #catastrphicdieoff #uk #unitedkingdomofgreatbritainandnorthernireland #unitedkingdom