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Richard Carter

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Writing tagged: ‘favourite places’

Posts about places that mean a lot to me.

High tides and volant voles

An unplanned visit to the flooded Dee Marshes is rewarded with a wildlife spectacle.

Published 04-Jan-2018
Filed under: Featured Articles, Writing Tags: birds, black-headed gulls, Dee Marshes, expeditions, favourite places, gulls, proto-sidelines, voles, water rails, Wirral

The joy of the familiar—and the unfamiliar—on a local patch

Hen harrier
Female hen harrier.

Getting to know a place well means knowing what to look forward to, and appreciating when something unusual happens.

Published 11-Nov-2016
Filed under: Featured Articles, Writing Tags: birds, Calder Valley, favourite places, flowers, golden plovers, harebells, heather, Hebden Bridge, hen harriers, kestrels, lapwings, meadow pipits, red grouse, snipe, swallows, the Moor, wheatears, Yorkshire

An irrelevance in the landscape

Puffin Island
Looking towards Puffin Island, Anglesey.

On the realisation that the natural world gets on perfectly well without us.

Published 03-Oct-2016
Filed under: Featured Articles, Writing Tags: Anglesey, birds, cormorants, dolphins, favourite places, gannets, grey seals, gulls, herring gulls, Manx shearwaters, nature waiting, oystercatchers, turnstones, Wales

Spoonbill identification: harder than you might think

Spoonbills
Spoonbills, little egret, grey herons and Canada geese

Struggling to identify a species is the best way to learn.

Published 06-Aug-2016
Filed under: Writing Tags: birds, Dee Marshes, favourite places, proto-sidelines, spoonbills, Wirral

Hats off to geology!

Sandstone quarry, Burton Point

Geology doesn't receive the recognition it deserves. Our modern understanding of how the world formed and evolved is one of science’s great triumphs.

Published 10-May-2016
Filed under: Writing Tags: Dee Marshes, favourite places, geology, proto-sidelines, science, Wirral

My concrete muse

Trig. Point 4144
Trig point 4144. Benchmark S4643.

She might only be a lump of concrete, but I have an immense fondness for trig. point 4144.

Published 18-Apr-2016
Filed under: Writing Tags: favourite places, On the Moor (book), proto-sidelines, trig point 4144

When is a buzzard not a buzzard?

Marsh harrier

…when it's a marsh harrier.

Published 14-Apr-2016
Filed under: Writing Tags: birds, buzzards, favourite places, marsh harriers, proto-sidelines, Wirral

Migrant waders anthology

‘The Migrant Waders’ poster 3

I have provided an article for a new anthology about wading birds.

Published 12-Apr-2016
Filed under: News, Published Pieces, Writing Tags: birds, Calder Valley, Charles Darwin, favourite places, Hebden Bridge, Migrant Waders (book)

Peregrine-harrier tag-team challenge

Peregrine
Peregrine over the Dee Marshes.

In which I witness a peregrine and marsh harrier hunting together—almost as a team.

Published 10-Mar-2016
Filed under: Featured Articles, Writing Tags: birds, Dee Marshes, favourite places, marsh harriers, peregrines, proto-sidelines, Wirral

Seabird jizz

Manx shearwater
Close-up from same photo.

When you see a bird often enough, its jizz begins to rub off on you—if you'll pardon the expression.

Published 09-Jan-2016
Filed under: Featured Articles, Writing Tags: Anglesey, birds, favourite places, Manx shearwaters, nature, photography, proto-sidelines, Wales, whitethroats

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Richard Carter

The whole is greater than some of its parts