The Butterfly Isles
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Product Description
Product Description
Butterflies animate our summers but the 59 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. Barkham brings alive the extraordinary physical beauty and amusingly diverse character of our butterflies. He witnesses a swarming invasion of Painted Ladies, experiences the curse of the Purple Emperor, makes a euphoric sighting of an exceedingly rare migrant and as summer draws to a close, suffers from butterfly burnout. He meets some deeply knowledgeable and eccentric butterfly obsessives and reconnects with lovely, overlooked corners of our countryside. As he goes, he looks back at the butterfly collectors of the past and ahead to a future in which many of our butterflies will struggle to survive on an overcrowded and overheating island. Wry, attentive, full of infectious delight and curiosity, written with a beautifully light touch, The Butterfly Isles will become a classic of British nature writing.
About the Author
PATRICK BARKHAM was born in 1975 in Norfolk and was educated at Cambridge University. He is a features writer for the Guardian, where he has reported on everything from the Iraq War to climate change: http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/patrickbarkham He lives in London and Wells-next-the-Sea in Norfolk.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
33 of 33 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Patrick Barkham's account of a year spent looking for all of Britain's butterflies is a wonderfully well balanced book. While his quest for the 59 species known to breed in the UK is central to the book, there is so much more to the story that just his quest for each species.
The book seems to follow the tradition of a number of bird watching stories where a person (often, but not inevitably, a man) seeks to see all, or as many as possible, of some form of list. What separates this book from some of the more mundane "number chase" books is the complexity and intent of the material that revolves around the central chase.
There is the relationship with the author's father, which is interwoven with childhood memories. This aspect of the book glows with remembered affection, but, thankfully, seems to avoid sentimentality. There is the relationship with Lisa, his girlfriend, which for a few pages dominates the book, but is always present elsewhere. There is the nature of the environment, both ours and the butterflies. The contrast between the condition of sites that the author had visited as a child and their current condition is used to highlight the issues that face butterflies and the wider natural world. While there is little new in this particular aspect of the book, it is remarkably effecting at showing the range of issues and challenges that our wild places face today.
A regular theme is the challenge of conservation, with good new stories (such as the Large Blue) as well as the more side spread bad news stories. If ever we needed more evidence that conservation is a multi-faceted activity that depends at its heart on good biological knowledge, then it could be found within the pages of this book.
And finally, centrally, there are the butterflies that weave their way through all the aspects of this book. Beautiful, plain, robust, delicate common or shockingly rare, each plays a part. Some are seen with remarkable ease, other prove more elusive. Although the book inevitably becomes a kind of check list of sightings, it never becomes simply just a catalogue of success or failure. The personality of each species is brought to the fore in a way that is both charming and probably accurate.
I would recommend this book most highly, not only to those who have childhood memories of buddleia, thick with butterflies, or for those who see the butterflies of today and are capture by their charm and grace, but also to those who are interested in first rate nature writing.
Highly recommended.
The book seems to follow the tradition of a number of bird watching stories where a person (often, but not inevitably, a man) seeks to see all, or as many as possible, of some form of list. What separates this book from some of the more mundane "number chase" books is the complexity and intent of the material that revolves around the central chase.
There is the relationship with the author's father, which is interwoven with childhood memories. This aspect of the book glows with remembered affection, but, thankfully, seems to avoid sentimentality. There is the relationship with Lisa, his girlfriend, which for a few pages dominates the book, but is always present elsewhere. There is the nature of the environment, both ours and the butterflies. The contrast between the condition of sites that the author had visited as a child and their current condition is used to highlight the issues that face butterflies and the wider natural world. While there is little new in this particular aspect of the book, it is remarkably effecting at showing the range of issues and challenges that our wild places face today.
A regular theme is the challenge of conservation, with good new stories (such as the Large Blue) as well as the more side spread bad news stories. If ever we needed more evidence that conservation is a multi-faceted activity that depends at its heart on good biological knowledge, then it could be found within the pages of this book.
And finally, centrally, there are the butterflies that weave their way through all the aspects of this book. Beautiful, plain, robust, delicate common or shockingly rare, each plays a part. Some are seen with remarkable ease, other prove more elusive. Although the book inevitably becomes a kind of check list of sightings, it never becomes simply just a catalogue of success or failure. The personality of each species is brought to the fore in a way that is both charming and probably accurate.
I would recommend this book most highly, not only to those who have childhood memories of buddleia, thick with butterflies, or for those who see the butterflies of today and are capture by their charm and grace, but also to those who are interested in first rate nature writing.
Highly recommended.
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is a very accomplished book which goes beyond just butterflies. Weaved through the pages of Barkham's butterfly hunt is personal narrative, natural history and travel writing. It is a hugely enjoyable, touching and funny book. And it contains a delectable cliff hanger: Will he manage to see all 59 British butterflies in just one summer? Throughout the book, I willed him to succeed. He took me to parts of Britain that I did not know existed but now want to see. He rekindled within me an interest in these curious creatures I too had loved when I was a child. I know Barkham, and I know he is a great writer. What I did not know is how much he loved butterflies. He has combined his two passions to make for a magical read. Any lover of nature would cherish this book. My birdwatching dad will definitely be getting a copy for Christmas.
29 of 30 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I picked this up after meeting the author briefly at a book festival* rather than out of any interest in butterflies, so I wasn't prepared for how fascinated I was about to become. For a start, it's brilliantly written: Barkham conjures the personalities and foibles of each species of UK butterfly (I liked the 'viscious, self-satisfied' Green Hairstreak, with its dirty sexual morals, best) in lucid, witty and beautifully-coloured prose, and manages to tap back into a childhood fascination with nature - he's still looking, wide-eyed, at things most grown ups are too busy to see.
This book is more than just nature writing, though: it's travelogue, journalism, history (of the Aurelian movement, those eccentric old Victorian lepidopterists) and also social geography: the story of Britain's butterflies is bound up with the story of Britain's changing urban and rural spaces over the last century. It's also an examination of the obsessive behaviour of collectors, a touching tribute to a father-son relationship, and there's a cracking narrative binding it all together, too. An utterly lovely read.
*He was wearing a t-shirt with butterflies on it.
This book is more than just nature writing, though: it's travelogue, journalism, history (of the Aurelian movement, those eccentric old Victorian lepidopterists) and also social geography: the story of Britain's butterflies is bound up with the story of Britain's changing urban and rural spaces over the last century. It's also an examination of the obsessive behaviour of collectors, a touching tribute to a father-son relationship, and there's a cracking narrative binding it all together, too. An utterly lovely read.
*He was wearing a t-shirt with butterflies on it.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
What a book
I discovered butterflies relatively recently. I have only been searching and reading about them for 12 months...very late in the day for a 43 year old. Read more
Published 8 days ago by Andy Richards
Very interesting read
This book is a must for any butterfly enthusiast. Full of little snippets and tips and info on the life cycles and whereabouts of the butterflies in these islands. Read more
Published 24 days ago by CJ Green
Still Trying to Choose My Favourite Butterfly...
I was given this book for Christmas and once I started reading, sat up far too late trying to finish it! Read more
Published 4 months ago by P. R. Scott
delightful for a butterfly freak like myself
Bought the kindle edition after reading a review in the Guardian.
Have only read the first couple of chapters, but am finding it delightful. Read more
Have only read the first couple of chapters, but am finding it delightful. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Sandra DELEMARE
Very enjoyable
Took me a few pages to get into it, but once I'd become hooked I loved every page. Thoroughly recommended for those of us who like to go out there and search for butterflies. Read more
Published 5 months ago by ChrisW
A funny, informative, likeable read
This book brings butterflying today - its attractions and its frustrations; its historical baggage and its stories (such as the court case over Lady Glanville's sanity and Patrick... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Nadia Kingsley
The Butterfly Isles
As a conservation student and a member of Butterfly Conservation I thought this book would be an interesting, and light read during my summer holidays. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Cliona
THE BUTTERFLY ISLES
I THOROUGHLY ENJOYED THIS BOOK. IT EVOKED MANY MEMORIES OF MY YOUTHFUL OBSESSION WITH BUTTERFLIES. I FOUND IT WELL WRITTEN, EXTREMELY WELL INFORMED AND RESEARCHED. Read more
Published 13 months ago by GROVERS
Really enjoyable read, you'll be off hunting butterflies before the...
I really enjoyed this book. It is the author's story of how he went searching for every British butterfly within the space of a year. Read more
Published 13 months ago by ork100
Butterfly Delight!
This is an excellent read whether or not you know much about butterflies. The personal anecdotal account by the author of the search for all our species in one season is an... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Ian Hardy
Listmania!
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