@iancarter67.bsky.social
Galloway-based naturalist and author: Rhythms of Nature | Human, Nature | The Red Kite | The Red Kite’s Year | The Hen Harrier’s Year | Wild Galloway https://pelagicpublishing.com/collections/ian-carter https://www.whittlespublishing.com/Wild_Galloway
Yes, sort of. It’s along similar lines though wider ranging across Galloway rather than focussed on our local glen. And with Karen’s superb prints and her notes on what drew her to each of them.
A sneak preview, and not necessarily the final cover. But a fantastic project to work on over the last year or so. Coming soon!
Another one for the extensive collection @ruthtingay.bsky.social. A brace of shot Pheasants, tied at the neck and given to a shooter. Only to be wrapped in plastic and hurled into the nearest river before washing up here on a remote Solway beach. They are bred as living targets rather than as food.
Little clusters of 11-spot Ladybirds all along this exposed metal fence in Oxfordshire. Seems an odd place to overwinter with so little shelter. Attracting the attention of walkers on the footpath as the cars roared by.
THREE satellite-tagged White-tailed Eagles disappear in suspicious circumstances in England, Wales & Scotland - two tags had been cut off.
Press release from Isle of Wight WTE Project Team & additional commentary from me ⬇️⬇️
#RaptorResearch #WildlifeCrime
raptorpersecutionuk.org/2025/12/17/t...
Day sixteen of #ArtAdventCalendar.
Here’s a soft pastel painting of my local river in the depths of winter.
Well, this is quite extraordinary! Lovely Ian being so kind & generous about my book, but also, what a connection! Reunited with the memory of a dear, much-loved pony, in the galloped woods above Reading…
@nicolawriting.bsky.social has written a wonderful, stirring book, weaving together her knowledge of the landscape with those who have come before - the ghosts that haunt her local walks. I met a ghost too. My sister’s old horse Padjo gets an unexpected mention! Here he is over 40 years ago.
All with the tops on too, which means they float and so are more easily washed up. So these people take the trouble to screw the top back on, and only then chuck the bottle away?
The usual assortment of litter on the tideline and, ironically enough, an intact plastic litter bin washed up by the recent high tides. (Lucozade the most common plastic bottle on the beach, as it almost always is -- why is that?)
Day fourteen of #ArtAdventCalendar
Here’s a rook, painted with black ink. Unfinished as yet.
Even their heartland is rejecting them...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
@iancarter67.bsky.social @markavery.bsky.social
Review of a mountaineering classic www.christownsendoutdoors.com/2025/11/book...
Ian - many thanks!
Nice shelves!
Britain’s best and worst songsters in the same recording. Compare and contrast!
Thanks Steve, hope you get on okay with it. In many ways it was a bit more of a depressing book to write than the Red Kite. A very different story to tell.
I enjoyed @iancarter67.bsky.social and Dan Powell’s The Red Kite’s Year so I have got a copy of this!
Wow! I bet there aren’t many folk out there who could beat that.
Took me one more than you, but up to 115 in a row now, quite a few by scraping through on the last attempt.
For a handful of nature writers, I want to read all that they write. The common traits? Knowledge, understanding, clarity of thought, and a knack for transferring it all to the page with humour and enthusiasm. Mark is one of them. And his co-author is very good too. @markavery.bsky.social
For a handful of nature writers, I want to read all that they write. The common traits? Knowledge, understanding, clarity of thought, and a knack for transferring it all to the page with humour and enthusiasm. Mark is one of them. And his co-author is very good too. @markavery.bsky.social
Very excited to share this! My new book, published by @pelagic.bsky.social is out June 2026 pelagicpublishing.com/products/tar...
Tarka Revisited - 100 Years of Rivers & Wildlife
@iancarter67.bsky.social @markbirdingpinoso.bsky.social @drtonygillie.bsky.social @nicwilson.bsky.social
Tonight's my 14th & last book-related event for the term. So grateful my limited energy has lasted (with many recharge sessions). I've spoken in bank vaults, museums, libraries, bookshops, rewilding sites & round the fire in an Iron Age roundhouse. It's been a ball!
@summersdalebooks.bsky.social
Yes indeed. It’s quite a conflict along various parts of the Scottish coast, and elsewhere too. The tension between those seeking quiet enjoyment of the wildlife and those after one for the pot.
The noisy early morning commute between the Solway and the fields where they feed. As I soon discovered, there were two wildfowlers hidden away directly below the flight line. Had these been Pink-feet rather than (non-shootable) Barnacle Geese, the spectacle would have been rudely interrupted.
Badger paths run across all the different layers of habitat in the glen. Across the fields, through gaps in the stone dykes then up and away into the hills where they make useful routes through the Bracken - narrow but just about walkable lines for humans through otherwise impenetrable vegetation.
Yes, and howls in the vets until the sedation kicked in. Then they managed to cut the shaft of the hook and ease it free.
… is told in the book. As is her finding of a dead Gannet killed by trying to swallow a dogfish. Gannet killed by dogfish or dogfish killed by Gannet depending on your point of view!
I can’t help but pick up these fishing lures whenever I find them. These are mostly from the Solway strandline, at the edge of our Galloway glen. Our cocker spaniel once found, and almost swallowed, a baited hook, and the sorry story…
My nature writing-historical-memoiry mash-up, about pioneering, forgotten women & queer farmers has been out a month! Holed up with a broken leg (will be at Romsey Waterstones & Folde) but I’d love some cheer, shares, a review or stars on that Amzn site to help things along! #GhostsoftheFarm x