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Ian Carter

@iancarter67.bsky.social

1.4K followers 750 following 290 posts

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Ian Carter @iancarter67.bsky.social · Feb 20

After a few false starts this has finally been published. A two year love affair with a Galloway glen and an introduction to the wildlife that lives here. From the elusive Red Grouse of the high tops to the swarms of Common Scoter out in the Solway. And everything in between.

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Richard K Broughton @richardkbroughton.bsky.social · 3d

May 2015. David Cameron was Prime Minister, UK an EU member, Barack Obama was US President, and this male Marsh Tit hatched in Monks Wood. Colour-ringed 28 August 2015. Photo 2 April 2016. Observed every year since. @martamaziarz.bsky.social & I saw him again today, 10 yrs 5 mo old, still surviving.

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James Aithie 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @jamesaithie.bsky.social · 8d

Today at #WigtownBookFestival 📚
@iancarter67.bsky.social - Wild Galloway: From the Hilltops to the Solway, a Portrait of a Glen
Robert Twigger's End of The World Survival Guide
@davidgraham-clarke.bsky.social - Epiphanies and Robberies
cont..

tickets.wigtownbookfestival.com/sales
#Wigtown

Home

tickets.wigtownbookfestival.com

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British Wildlife @britishwildlife.bsky.social · 8d

The latest British Wildlife newsletter is now available, our monthly round-up from the magazines featuring exclusive book reviews, highlights from the back catalogue, and conversations with our authors. You can read the September newsletter here: mailchi.mp/britishwildl...

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Ian Parsons @ianparsons.bsky.social · 8d

Read my review of Renaturing by James Canton, a book that provoked a few thoughts.
@iand777.bsky.social @rewildscotland.bsky.social @iancarter67.bsky.social @irishrainforest.bsky.social @markavery.bsky.social @landethics.bsky.social - you even get a mention Steve
#Rewilding

British Wildlife @britishwildlife.bsky.social · 8d

Within September’s newsletter you’ll find @ianparsons.bsky.social‘s review of Renaturing, written by James Canton and published by @canongate.co.uk. Read the review here: www.britishwildlife.com/renaturing/

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Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 9d

It’s book publication day for #GhostsoftheFarm! It’s been a lifetime’s companionable & instructional haunting, & I’m thrilled to bring these women from out the shadows, honour them & raise & address my own rural ghosts. Love & thanks to @chelseagreenbooks.bsky.social & my early readers too x

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Raptor Persecution UK @raptorpersuk.bsky.social · 9d

Gosh, what a mystery. Whatever could have happened to them?

No bodies, no tags, no prosecutions, no accountability, no deterrent. This will continue.

#RaptorResearch #WildlifeCrime

raptorpersecutionuk.org/2025/09/29/t...

Two Golden Eagles ‘disappear’ in south Scotland – Police appeal for information

Press release from Police Scotland, 29 September 2025: APPEAL FOR MISSING GOLDEN EAGLE Detectives are appealing for information after a satellite-tagged golden eagle disappeared in the hills to the…

raptorpersecutionuk.org

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Ian Carter @iancarter67.bsky.social · 9d

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Ian Carter @iancarter67.bsky.social · 13d

Present in the wider area though I’ve not seen them in this precise location. Not impossible though. Fox is another option, predating a sick bird or scavenging a dead one.

Ian Carter @iancarter67.bsky.social · 13d

I think that's probably true wherever grey squirrels are common - they simply don't get a chance to ripen before they are eaten. Here we have a glut every year and the red squirrels (and a few greys) simply can't keep up.

Ian Carter @iancarter67.bsky.social · 14d

They are a feature here too. Raiding the garden for peanuts regularly in summer, but taking to the woods in autumn for the abundant nuts. Same pattern with Red Squirrels. Daily garden visitors most of the year but I’ve not seen one for weeks.

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Ian Carter @iancarter67.bsky.social · 14d

Good haul of hazenuts yesterday. And lucked into these perfect field mushrooms on the way home. The heather-clad slopes of Bengairn as a backdrop.

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Ian Carter @iancarter67.bsky.social · 14d

It was a bit of an odd one because just a wing with no other feathers or remains to be seen. As Chris says, a Sparrowhawk may well have killed it but it must have been consumed elsewhere. I felt guilty peering at it with live Jays screeching about in the canopy nearby!

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Ian Carter @iancarter67.bsky.social · 14d

You spend all July and August looking for one (without success) and then hit the jackpot in late September. This wing was all on its own in woodland so not sure what happened to the bird. Eerily, Jays were screeching from the trees as I took the photo.

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Raptor Persecution UK @raptorpersuk.bsky.social · 14d

Press statement from Police Scotland 🔽

#RaptorResearch #WildlifeCrime #BirdingScotland #Ornithology

raptorpersecutionuk.org/2025/09/24/r...

Red Kite found dead in Perthshire confirmed to have been poisoned (banned pesticide + rodenticides)

Press release from Police Scotland (24 September 2025): BIRD OF PREY FOUND TO BE POISONED IN PERTH & KINROSS AREA Enquiries into the death of red kite are ongoing. On 22 June, 2025 a dead red k…

raptorpersecutionuk.org

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Paul Cheney @halfmanhalfbook.bsky.social · 15d

My thoughts on Wild Galloway by Ian Carter and published by Whittles Publishing. Thank you to them for sending me a copy to read

halfmanhalfbook.co.uk/review/wild-...

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Ian Carter @iancarter67.bsky.social · 15d

Still a few tickets for this event at Wigtown Book Festival next Wednesday. Talking all things wildlife and conservation in Galloway with Polly Pullar. Wind turbines, Sitka Spruce, Red Kites, open access and more. Plus my take on trying to stay positive, despite everything.

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Ian Carter @iancarter67.bsky.social · 18d

This has received no publicity but is damning. A clear explanation of why this type of reintroduction is not just a distraction and a waste of resources but is ACTIVELY HARMFUL to conservation. Environmental journalists please note and please publicise.

operationturtledove.org/captive-rele...

Operation Turtle Dove’s view on the release of captive-bred Turtle Doves as a conservation measure - Operation Turtle Dove

Operation Turtle Dove is a science-led conservation partnership working to reverse the decline of Turtle Doves in the UK by restoring habitat and addressing key threats. Learn why captive-bred release...

operationturtledove.org

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Richard Smyth @rsmythfreelance.bsky.social · 22d

I wrote an essay on non-fiction and truth for The Author, in which I talk about Capote, Graves and Durrell before concluding that writers just need to stop being full of shit.

Pinches of Salt: Richard Smyth explores fictions within non-fiction.

And of course there is a constant stream of books like The Salt Path: books on travel, nature, place, books about spiritual journeys, high emotion, the relentless exalted dramatisation of the self. Books in this genre might strike some as just another sort of bullshit, confected for profit; they are just not the sort that will ever be the subject of allegations in a national newspaper.

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Raptor Persecution UK @raptorpersuk.bsky.social · 23d

Cautionary commentary from Peak District environmentalist Bob Berzins.

raptorpersecutionuk.org/2025/09/16/g...

Government’s peatland ‘burning ban’ – a step in the right direction but a total ban is needed (guest blog by Bob Berzins)

This is a guest blog written by conservation campaigner and author Bob Berzins who has written previously on this blog here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here. The recent changes to moorl…

raptorpersecutionuk.org

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Ian Carter @iancarter67.bsky.social · 23d

A good crop of Yew berries this year, much enjoyed by wild birds and mammals. All parts of the tree are toxic to humans EXCEPT the flesh of the berries (always spit out the toxic ‘pip’). A sweet taste and pleasingly gooey texture. We’ll worth trying.

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Tony Juniper @tonyjuniper.bsky.social · Aug 31

Very pleased to see a review of ‘Just Earth’ from Mark Avery.

Mark has been involved with all these tricky ecological subjects for about as long as I have, so good to have his thoughts on this book (which was quite hard to write, although hopefully not hard to read)

markavery.info/2025/08/31/s...

Sunday book review – Just Earth by Tony Juniper – Mark Avery

markavery.info

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Ian Carter @iancarter67.bsky.social · Aug 27

A birdless ‘Wildlife reports’ in the current BW, and I’ve checked 5 (make that 6) times. Read through the molluscs section twice by way of compensation but its not quite the same.

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Julian Hughes @penrhynbirder.bsky.social · Aug 21

Excellent opportunity to join the @naturambyth.bsky.social team in NW #Wales with @rspbcymru.bsky.social. They work on some fantastic sites on #YnysMon #Anglesey and #Llyn, on some brilliant species: Curlew, Chough, Large Mason Bee, Geyer's Whorl Snail...

app.vacancy-filler.co.uk/salescrm/Car...

Natur am Byth! Project Officer (Lleyn and Anglesey) | RSPB

Natur am Byth! Project Officer (Lleyn and Anglesey)Would you be interested in joining a team to help conserve the rarest and most endangered species in north-west Wales?The Llyn peninsula and Isle of ...

app.vacancy-filler.co.uk

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Ian Carter @iancarter67.bsky.social · Aug 21

Yes, may well have been what happened! Cheese & onion, but they’ll eat just about anything.

Ian Carter @iancarter67.bsky.social · Aug 20

Yes, afraid so.