Reader Q&A: Our natural history writer Patrick Barkham is answering your questions on invertebrates – live

Why This Matters

Key context: <p>This week, we launched our third annual vote to honour nature’s unsung heroes. The Guardian’s natural history writer – and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/aug/03/common-woodlouse-invertebrate-of-the-year">woodlouse fanboy</a> – Patrick Barkham is now answering your questions<br><br><strong>Ask a question: log in or sign up </strong><a href="https://profile.theguardian.com/signin"><strong>here</strong></a></p><p><strong><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/community/live/2026/aug/05/invertebrate-of-year-qa-discuss-our-countdown-with-patrick-barkham#comment-175338254">Sprockertime</a> asks:</strong> Is building an invertebrate home in the garden just lobbing a log in the herbaceous border?</p><p><strong>Patrick:</strong></p><p>Thanks Sprockertime, I love your question. The answer is yes!</p><p>I’ve done all kinds of fancy things for wildlife in my garden (filling in a “sunken garden” with five tonnes of chalk raised a few eyebrows in my neighbourhood) and I salute everyone who has erected bird boxes and bug hotels.</p><p>Thanks for your contribution Cathy247, I am picturing your garden and your respect and curiosity for the tiny lives around you and hooray for all that!</p><p>I suspect your insect is a solitary bee or wasp, and it is great to know the bug hotel is being used. As your comments show, it is so easy to help invertebrate life; even if we have no garden, we can live alongside woodlice and spiders in our flats and houses.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/community/live/2026/aug/05/invertebrate-of-year-qa-discuss-our-countdown-with-patrick-barkham">Continue reading...</a> This development from The Guardian highlights ongoing changes in the sector.