Patrick Barkham

Will it be the rapidly disappearing former garden favourite, the small tortoiseshell? Or the poet John Masefield's “oakwood haunting thing” , the charismatic purple emperor?

She had a passion for butterflies and would seek out rare ones, yet this was used against her by violent, money-grabbing husband. Now this pioneering naturalist’s story has been translated to today’s manosphere

Three years of rewilding on a former dairy farm in east Somerset have seen recorded bird species soar from 67 to 94, butterfly species rise from 11 to 24 and small mammals grow in number.

Letting nature take over at a former dairy farm has resulted in a surge of species in just three years

If you've spotted a pale orange butterfly dashing at frenetic pace through streets, fields or gardens, you've noticed the new migrants that will add colour to the summer in record-breaking numbers.

Read this exciting story from The Guardian June 06, 2026 issue. He is known as “the Picasso of Ponds” but the tableaux being created by Shaun Hancox in a boggy field in Somerset currently looks more like a building site.

Shaun Hancox has created scores of ponds for rewilding projects across Britain – and he says there’s a lot more to it than digging a hole

First ever global mapping of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi shows scale of hyphal systems that sustain plant life

More than 20,000 votes cast in Butterfly Conservation’s poll of 60 native species to find nation’s favourite for first time

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.