Patrick Barkham

The very best of British and Irish nature writing selected by the natural history writer Patrick Barkham.

An Anthology of the Best of British and Irish Nature Writing

The Wild Isles

An enticing exploration of the smallest islands of Britain from the award-winning, bestselling author of The Butterfly Isles.

A Journey Around Our Archipelago

Islander

Britain is the home of the badger - there are more badgers per square kilometre in this country than in any other. And yet many of us have never seen one alive and in the wild. They are nocturnal creatures who vanish into their labyrinthine underground setts at the first hint of a human. Here, Patrick Barkham follows in the footsteps of his badger-loving grandmother, to meet the feeders, farmers and scientists who know their way around Badgerlands: the mysterious world in which these distinctively striped creatures snuffle, dig and live out their complex social lives.

The Twilight World of Britain's Most Enigmatic Animal

Badgerlands

From one of the most engaging and widely admired of the new generation of nature writers, here is a portrait of the British coastline from the Giant's Causeway to Land's End

The Story of Our Shore

Coastlines

From climbing trees and making dens, to building sandcastles and pond-dipping, many of the activities we associate with a happy childhood take place outdoors. And yet, the reality for many contemporary children is very different. The studies tell us that we are raising a generation who are so alienated from nature that they can't identify the commonest birds or plants, they don't know where their food comes from, they are shuttled between home, school and the shops and spend very little time in green spaces - let alone roaming free. In this timely and personal book, celebrated nature writer Patrick Barkham draws on his own experience as a parent and a forest school volunteer to explore the relationship between children and nature. Unfolding over the course of a year of snowsuits, muddy wellies, and sunhats, Wild Child is both an intimate story of children finding their place in natural world, and a celebration of the delight we can all find in even modest patches of green.

Coming Home to Nature

Wild Child

a summer in search of our emperors and admirals

The butterfly isles

Swimmer

Told through a series of walks beside the sea, this is a story of the most beautiful 742 miles of coastline in England, Wales and Northern Ireland: their rocks, plants and animals, their views, walks and history, and the people who have made their lives within sight of the waves. As he travels along coastal paths, visits beaches and explores coves, Barkham reflects on the long campaign to protect our shoreline from tidal erosion and human damage and weaves together fascinating tales about every aspect of the coast - from ancient conquests and smuggler's routes, to exotic migratory birds and bucket-and-spade holidays - to tell a more profound story about our island nation and the way we are shaped by our shores.

the story of our shore

Butterflies animate our summers but the fifty-nine species found in the British Isles can be surprisingly elusive. Some bask unseen at the top of trees in London parks; others lurk at the bottom of damp bogs in Scotland. A few survive for months, while other ephemeral creatures only fly for three days. Several are virtually extinct. This bewitching book charts Patrick Barkham's quest to find each of them - from the Adonis Blue to the Dingy Skipper - in one unforgettable summer. Wry, attentive, full of infectious delight and curiosity, written with a beautifully light touch, The Butterfly Isles is a classic of British nature writing.

A Summer In Search Of Our Emperors And Admirals

The Butterfly Isles

Alastair Fothergill

This beautifully illustrated overview of the wildlife of the British Isles showcases the diversity of our plant and animal life.

Wild Isles

Wild Green Wonders brings you a selection of twenty years' worth of Patrick Barkham's writings for the Guardian, and it bears witness to the great many changes imposed upon this planet and the challenges lying ahead for the future of nature. From Norwegian wolves to protests against the HS2 rail, from peregrine falcons nesting by the Thames to Britain's last lion tamer, Barkham paints an ever changing portrait of contemporary wildlife. This collection also presents thought-provoking interviews with conservationists, scientists, activists and writers such as Rosamund Young, Ronald Blythe and other eco-luminaries, including Sir David Attenborough and Brian May. 'Siding with the planet is siding with the underdog, and this has motivated much of my journalism', Barkham writes. Wild Green Wonders is his chronicle.

A Life in Nature

Wild Green Wonders

George Ewart Evans

In the detail of village architecture, the rituals of house-building, and the pagan habit of 'telling the bees,' this book unearths the rich seam of customs and beliefs of the ancient rural culture which continues to inform British life today.

The Pattern Under the Plough

Winner of the National Geographic Reader's Award 2018 Shortlisted for the Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year 2018 Shortlisted for the BBC Countryfile Magazine Country Book of the Year 2018 'For all the islomaniacs out there, Patrick Barkham's Islander looks unmissable' Robert Macfarlane 'Brimming with nature, this is a fitting tribute to the strangeness and beauty of our British isles' Financial Times 'Islander is a charming and attractive book... his shrewd study of the islander mentality [...] could stand for the entire country' Spectator The British Isles are an archipelago made up of two large islands and 6,289 smaller ones. Some, like the Isle of Man, resemble miniature nations, with their own language and tax laws; others, like Ray Island in Essex, are abandoned and mysterious places haunted by myths, ghosts and foxes. There are resurgent islands such as Eigg, which have been liberated from capricious owners to be run by their residents; holy islands like Bardsey, the resting place of 20,000 saints, and still a site of spiritual questing; and deserted islands such as St Kilda, famed for the evacuation of its human population, and now dominated by wild sheep and seabirds. In this evocative and vividly observed book, Patrick Barkham explores some of the most beautiful landscapes in the British Isles as he travels to ever-smaller islands in search of their special magic. Our small islands are both places of freedom and imprisonment, party destinations and oases of peace, strangely suburban and deeply wild. They are places where the past is unusually present, but they can also offer a vision of an alternative future. Meeting all kinds of islanders, from nuns to puffins, from local legends to rare subspecies of vole, he seeks to discover what it is like to live on a small island, and what it means to be an islander.

Patrick Barkham

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