I’m a writer and photographer based in Hebden Bridge in the West Yorkshire Pennines.
My interests include the natural world, the British countryside, science in general, and Charles Darwin in particular. I combined these interests in my first book, On the Moor: Science, History and Nature on a Country Walk.
I’m currently working on a book about looking at the world Through Darwin’s Eyes.
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Fountain pen mod
Plastic fountain pen versus power-tool: what could possibly go wrong?
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Streak!
I’m damned if I’m going to have some stupid app make me fret about missing a day and going all the way back to zero!
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Heavenly conjunction
Images of the moon, past and present.
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On the Rocks, April 2026
Some unexpected thrills sitting on what remains of my favourite Anglesey rock.
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Lichen timelapse
A project to take photographs of the same lichen over many years.
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When rocks take a walk
In which I follow the trail of an itinerant rock!
Sign up for my free newsletters
Richard Carter’s newsletters
RICH TEXT: My personal newsletter about science, history and nature writing.
DARWIN NEWSLETTER: Celebrating the grandeur in Charles Darwin’s view of life.
Latest newsletters
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Rich Text newsletter No. 37: ‘These people knew mammoths!’
Ice age art • Robert Macfarlane • Kathleen Jamie • medieval poems • lichen • Barbarian Conspiracy • the Shipping Forecast • escaping the entropy • and more…
Newsletter No. 23: ‘It’s not all cheetahs versus gazelles’
Darwin the botanist • UNESCO recognition • Darwin’s address book • Charles Lyell • Leonard Jenyns • punctuated equilibria • what the heck are chins for? • and lots more…
Buy my book
On the Moor: science, history and nature on a country walk
Carter cleverly weaves in science at every opportunity, whether it’s inspired by direct observations of birds and animals and plants […] or spinning off from a trig point onto the geometric methods of surveying through history all the way up to GPS. […] All in all, this is probably best described as a great ramble on the moor with an expert guide. […] It’s a wuthering wonder.
—Brian Clegg, science author and communicator, Popular Science Books
