Ian Carter
@IanCarter67
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Naturalist and Author: Rhythms of Nature | Human, Nature | The Red Kite | The Red Kite’s Year | The Hen Harrier’s Year | Coming soon: Wild Galloway
Galloway
Joined May 2020
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I’m teaching all the birds to use their own mugs. Siskins very quick to catch on.
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Our Red Squirrels are back. They’ve been missing for weeks, away in the woods gorging on hazelnuts. One was feeding on cotoneaster berries this morning, in a bush against the wall of house. Nice to have them back.
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Found a live, three-foot long shark yesterday. Having taken the photo of what I’d assumed was a dead dogfish, I noticed it was still breathing. I carried to to the water’s edge (skin rough as sandpaper) and it swam away sluggishly. Can anyone tell the species from this? 1/2
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Cause of death: ‘choked on shark’ or ‘swallowed by gannet’, depending on where your sympathies lie.
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A corner of the farm where there is no path, no car park, no people, no management of any kind. Trees are left where they fall. Here you are always alone, except for the wildlife. We need nature reserves, of course, but it’s forgotten places like this that make life worth living.
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First bird for the new house: a Robin singing through the open window. First mammal: this on the window ledge!
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Ash paws. This year’s leaves are already made. They hang above us in their millions, within the buds, waiting. They are made from last year’s sun, with leaves now dead and littering the ground. Endless, overlapping cycles.
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These ancient walls run for miles, criss-crossing the local Galloway hills. They add beauty to the landscape and provide structure and places of shelter for wildlife. In the valleys and along streams the stones become furred with a layer of soft green moss. 1/12
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An ancient Devon hedge bank, on its way to becoming rain forest. In dense, tangled woods or along streams these hedges provide the easiest route through the landscape. They are much used by foxes, badgers, red deer, and, just occasionally, by humans.
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What to do if you run into a human? Try a sort of hissing noise, a threatening stomp, and fluff yourself up so you’re bigger than a Badger cub. If that doesn’t work, it’s back to the sett to regroup. Mum sweeping up at the rear.
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I posted this picture a few days ago and immediately got into trouble for not picking her up and carrying her away to a rescue centre. She is out in the daylight, people shouted. This is an EMERGENCY. She needs help or, very likely, she will die. 1/
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‘Did you know that last tweet you were in went viral?’
‘Really? Nice, though I hate that word.’
‘Understandable. Anyway, I wondered if you’d help plug my book?’
‘How?’
‘Just sit by it and look cute.’
‘Do I get paid?’
‘Is 5 peanuts okay?’
‘Make it 10?
‘Fine, 10. Thank you.’
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Walk on the beach at Auchencairn yesterday and an unexpected trip to Stewartry Vets in Castle Douglas. One hour, £80, a dose of sedatives, and two helpful vets later and all sorted. Take your fishing tackle home.
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First clump yesterday. Locally, frogs use shallow pools prone to drying up in summer. Warm, dry spells cause carnage with masses of tadpoles reduced to a sorry layer of black rubber on the mud. Breeding now gives them more chance of producing froglets before the pools are gone.
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A visitor to my study. Somehow he made it through the open back door and all the way upstairs. And, honestly, the mug was already there! He was easily caught and flew off into the garden. A member of one of the local breeding pairs no doubt.
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I’ve been seeing Sand Martins flying around the garden every day recently. And the penny has finally dropped. They are breeding here, just the other side of the garden fence.
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Saw this on Twitter recently so decided to test it locally. It’s definitely a thing. The lower Holly leaves are protected from grazing by tough spines. But these are costly to produce, so the higher ones (out of reach of deer) are smooth.
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If just one person gets this it'll make me very happy...
Very few butterflies around at the moment. Loose change really compared to the riches normally on offer.
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Our garden hare has moved on from parsnips to broccoli. A varied diet, trying a little bit of everything seems to be the way he operates.
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A thread on inappropriate (re)introductions. It’s a little long (sorry) and perhaps a little grumpy (sorry again). Arguing against the work of others is rarely a good look, especially as we are all, essentially, on the same side, but… 1/21
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I posted something about this trap a couple of days ago. Here’s an update, together with a few thoughts about welfare. Anyone can reach their own conclusions by looking at the video and considering a little background information. 1/13
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We seem to have acquired a garden hare. He’s always here somewhere, and stays put until you are right on top of him. He’s very welcome. Unless he starts eating the parsnips.
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We’ve lost a few to disease in recent weeks and Grey Squirrels are never far away, so it’s lovely to see this. One of a new generation of recently ‘fledged’ Red Squirrels, making itself at home.
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@PSOSDandG
@ScottishSPCA
@onekindtweet
I’ll end with a comment from the previous thread: ‘This is killing one thing (using a cruel method) simply to save another, so that it too can be killed for fun.’ Change is needed. Tightening up the law to improve the welfare of these traps is an essential first step. (Ends)
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Sorry, I’m not even going to pretend to leave any more. I like it here. Get used to it.
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It’s that time of year again. Time to reconnect with ancient landscapes and a food that humans have been eating here (on and off) for hundreds of thousands of years. 1/
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This is marcescense, when deciduous trees hold their dead leaves all winter. It seems to involve mainly young trees and can often be seen in beech and hornbeam hedges. These are young beeches on the edge of a wood, contrasting with the starkly leafless mature trees nearby.
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A shocking example of shifting baselines in this month’s
@britishbirds
. Up to 800,000 Bullfinches were trapped and shot EVERY YEAR in the 1950s, 60s and 70s to reduce damage to orchards. Now we are down to 265,000 breeding pairs. A fascinating paper by Ian Newton.
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Glad I peered into this tree hole. It contained a perfect miniature garden of Wood Sorrel. Many shades of green and just one flower.
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Stewardship:
1. Reduce the vegetation to grass and bracken so not even grouse can survive.
2. Build new pens, and tracks to connect them.
3. Release an alien bird in its thousands.
4. Continue killing any predators that visit.
5. Then kill the released birds.
Scottish Government's grouse moor licensing scheme must also consider red-legged partridges & pheasants.
@MairiMcAllan
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Carnage out here at the moment with all the dead lambs not slaughtered by eagles.
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It’s not about taking on ‘the countryside’ though is it. It’s about taking on a very small and deeply unpopular aspect of rural life. In desperation, people like Tim claim ‘the countryside’ as if they’re speaking on behalf of a rural majority. They’re not.
Will Moore on the covert campaign against shooting and hunting. Politicians learned from the pain inflicted on Labour by Hunting Act and will be very wary about taking on the countryside head on.
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This is the largest Ivy I’m aware of locally. Most gets cut when much smaller. It’s perhaps 9 inches diameter and must be decades old.
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This really is a mind-blowing book. It’s an issue that has crept up on us so slowly that conservationists have all but ignored it. We didn’t even have a name for it - until now. The impacts are huge and brilliantly explained here in language that makes it accessible to anyone.
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No water left, shelter no bigger than a dinner plate (and the rain in Galloway often comes sideways), no sign of a licence number. Is this legal? And if not, is anyone interested?
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Goldfinches watching on quietly from the sidelines but not yet willing to play. It’s a waiting game…
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We have the same problem. The garden is a no go zone after about 8 pm in summer. The Hedgehogs have already been eaten and we're terrified that we'll be next. They look in through the windows sometimes. We sleep with a baseball bat close at hand.
@rattycastle
I’m sorry but I detest badgers. I spent a night trapped in my car because I got home late (rural setting) and was too frightened to get out of my car. They do so much damage be it by spreading disease or causing damage. Townies just see little cuddly things. They are not.
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“I don’t think we have the right to play God.”
Sorry Ray but we've been playing God for a long time, with Lynx and with many other species. They've been wiped out by our actions, with no consultation, and no discussion.
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Wildflower meadow coming along nicely in parts of the lawn. Still dominated by grasses and rush tussocks in places - but getting there slowly.
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I was reminded of my last strandline dogfish. It was on Mull, lodged firmly in the gullet of a Gannet. Dogfish killed by Gannet or Gannet killed by dogfish, depending on where you sympathies lie.
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A first for us here, from our patio just after the Badgers wandered away.
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I think, deep down, most people knew this already. Now it has been confirmed in the clearest possible terms. This is NOT about science it is about placating the influential farming lobby. Defra said as much in their statement. How utterly depressing.
BREAKING: Shocking news as
@NaturalEngland
issues supplementary cull licences against its own scientific advice
NE's CEO & Chair overruled advice NOT to cull and ordered
#badger
killing to go ahead in 17 existing and 9 unnamed new zones
Read in full >
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@paulpowlesland
As usual in the cases the failure to act (because of resource shortages?) means that far greater resources must inevitably be deployed at a later date, to sort out a much bigger problem. So not acting quickly is a false economy.
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Newly arrived: The Hen Harrier’s Year. How it ekes out a living month by month, and our take on the fraught conflict with grouse shooting that makes life so perilous for this bird. Dan’s glorious artwork on every page. Quite a contrast with…
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Fox caught hunting. Who would have thought it.
This isn’t my footage, but for the people that think foxes are lovely cuddly creatures please watch.
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Exeter city centre yesterday. This odd feeding technique really does work. Several earthworms emerged and were quickly picked off.
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Meanwhile, in deepest mid-Devon. Verging on the ridiculous?
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Finally! It’s only taken three months but well worth the wait. (Must clean the windows).
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I can’t resist one more clip from the Bellymack Hill feeding station, part of the Galloway kite trail. Countless birds, well into three figures, snatching up pieces of meat as the farmer and two farm dogs watch on.
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End of the road for this one yesterday. She snuck her way into three books over the years. And she got me out into the Cambridgeshire or Devon or Galloway countryside almost every day, even when I didn’t much feel like it. Untrained, untrainable (we tell ourselves), sadly missed.
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This bright green grass (and a single bone) is the only surviving evidence to show that a cow died here over two years ago. It fed lots of scavengers. And the nutrients have created this small patch of lush vegetation in a sea of pale brown.
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This is fantastic. You might be happy with our upland landscapes as they are, until you get a glimpse of what we are missing out on.
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Bellymack Farm kite feeding today. The kites weren’t coming down at first so the farmer’s dogs were deployed. The kites think they will steal all the food so start to become more interested. It worked a treat.
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I’ll get bored of this soon (or everyone else will) but it’s not happened yet, so here is Wednesday’s first nut of the day.
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@PSOSDandG
@ScottishSPCA
@onekindtweet
This is a wild bird, caught specifically to use as a call bird. It has had no history of captivity before its sudden confinement. It will stay here for as long as it remains useful, which could be many weeks. And corvids are among our most intelligent birds. 8/13
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Restore good habitat and, at a stroke, you’ll improve conditions for COUNTLESS THOUSANDS of different species. Ultimately, all our wildlife depends upon habitat protection and restoration. But this is difficult, expensive and often thankless work… 16/21
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We live close to the Tiverton Staghounds. Wednesday is hunt day - we often see them. Today, according to a Facebook post that seems reliable, they drove a stag onto a main road, causing a collision with a car containing a local Mum and her small child. 1/2
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Crucially, these benefits are long lasting and they help a wide range of other wildlife in addition to Hedgehogs. This is what we should focus upon if we really want to help this animal in the longer term; if we wish to serve the Hedgehog’s needs rather than our own. 19/19
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Everything is frozen solid. Almost everything. Moles keep at it though. They have no choice. And they produce this. Ice-free, warm almost. The perfect seedbed (gardeners sometimes steal it for their pots) on a day when human spades bounce rather than cut.
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Very high tide on the Solway today. Lots of fleeing Field Voles, fantastically buoyant on the water. The local Carrion Crows taking a few. Shrews escaping too as the waves pushed incongruously through the reedbed. And even a …
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Speculation about a biodiversity crisis, fuelled by decades of painstaking surveys, ends after someone sees birds on a farm - and takes photo.
Anyone who agrees with the climate activists and environmental keyboard warriors who say the UK is one of the most habitat and wildlife depleted countries in the world. I have 2 words for them:
total bollocks. 😤
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Hello
@guardian
. I gather you have a leaked copy of Prince Harry’s new book. Any chance you could do me a favour and look to see if ‘Harrier, Hen’ is included in the index.
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I’ll get bored of posting these (eventually). Apparently a Grey has been seen in the garden recently and a local Red Squirrel group left the previous owners a cage trap. We are on the front line it seems.
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Whether or not to rescue wildlife? I’ve written about this and so I thought I’d revisit it. It’s such a difficult issue. Some people feel honour bound to intervene when they see an animal struggling. That’s understandable, but is it helpful when considered from all sides? 2/
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Puffin therapy on Staffa a few days ago. Cures 99% of known worries instantly.
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I think he enjoys the free food. And the trap is a nice safe place to sleep. Then it’s just a quick dash back to the house. He’s probably there before I am.
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Well that’s made my day. A Wryneck on the garden fence in land-locked mid-Devon.
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A abandoned Devon hedge. These beeches would once have been growing on an earth bank. But sheep sheltering alongside it and lambs playing games on it have eroded the soil, leaving a mass of exposed, tortured roots.
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Just after dawn. Middle of Devon. Middle of nowhere. That pond looks bigger than I remember. Ah... I see.
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Found an old World War Two landmine washed up on the Ross of Mull.
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Think I read somewhere that the white tips to a Woodcock's tail are the brightest white of any known bird feather. Have a look at this. From near perfect camouflage to stunning display at the flick of a switch.
3 weeks of monitoring the local Woodcock at Gib Point finally paid off. Mesmerised.
@LWTWildNews
@BBCSpringwatch
@InstaBirders
@BirdGuides
@PatchBirding
@Lincsbirding
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Our garage Toad. Always in there somewhere, always in a different spot. He’s almost been trodden on a few times but I look out for him now.
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So much talk of rewilding. How difficult is is to achieve and how long it will take. And yet all over Britain & Ireland existing ancient woods are gradually being lost. Start with these places surely. The mature trees, decades old, are already there. Here is just one example:
Last October I did a thread on Uragh, one of Ireland's last surviving remnants of ancient rainforest by the shores of Lough Inchiquin in Kerry.
Several days later, a commitment was given in the Dáil that measures would be put in place to restore the wood's ecological integrity.
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@PSOSDandG
What the Police think is important but their interpretation of the law is not always correct. I wonder if
@ScottishSPCA
or
@onekindtweet
might have a view of as to whether this trap meets the legal requirements? Has this been properly tested in court? 6/13
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A much debated point. But they are native birds, recovering from persecution, with fewer than 10,000 pairs. 50 *million* non-native Pheasants are released annually, well served by artificial food. They also eat red-listed reptiles, amphibians and inverts. Now that’s unnatural.
Is it only me finding this number of red kites in one place worrying if not unnatural? What about all those red-listed waders trying to produce fledglings? And what about natural winter mortality of kites? The area doesn't even look frozen. To me this is misguided conservation.
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@Alexander_Lees
For animals such as the Beaver, Lynx, Wildcat, Wild Boar and others too, reintroduction is the only option if we want them back in our landscapes. But for almost all our wildlife, the protection, restoration and connectivity of high-quality habitat is EVERYTHING. 20/21
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Why is nature so important to us?
How can we make the most of what we have left?
Why does our wildlife continue to decline even as more and more people come to value it?
Everyone has their own views: these are mine.
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So depending on your expert of choice and naming preference, the initial image shows a Lesser-spotted Dogfish, Lesser-spotted Catshark, Greater-spotted Dogfish (or Catshark), Nursehound or Bullhuss. And if served in your local chippie it'll be called Rock Salmon. Fair enough.
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There are no serious injuries but it was a split second away from being far worse. The Police have been involved. A few years ago they killed a pet terrier cross in its own garden, unluckily for them owned by a local magistrate. How much more of this before it finally ends?
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Improving habitat doesn’t involve handling the animals but is much more helpful when it comes to Hedgehog conservation. It increases the carrying capacity of an area so that more animals can survive. The population can increase and become more resilient. 18/
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Woods from fields. We don’t hear much about land abandonment in Britain. But these moss-covered Beeches mark the line of an old hedge, and woodland is re-establishing on either side, where once there were fields.
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A known persecution hotspot.
Owned by the Chair of the Moorland Association - the representative body for grouse moor owners.
Reported immediately to the Police by RSPB.
Ignored by the Police.
No investigation, no warning to the public.
Just one more dead bird...
Red kite found poisoned on Swinton Estate - North Yorkshire Police refuses to investigate.
Totally unacceptable.
@northyorkspfcc
@PFCCZoeMetcalfe
will be asked to launch an inquiry.
Details in blog ⬇️⬇️
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A disproportionate number of rescues are likely to involve animals that have, by definition, been less well able to survive. So we end up with the ‘survival of the rescued’ rather than the ‘survival of the fittest’. That can’t be a good thing for the health of the population. 8/
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The local farmer was out mending fences today. The posts gradually rot at the base and become loose. Each time it happens he (or his predecessor) puts a new one in. This is four generations side by side, spanning who knows how many decades.
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@PSOSDandG
@ScottishSPCA
@onekindtweet
My own view is that there is almost no meaningful shelter. This bird would be exposed to all weathers: wind, rain, sleet (which often comes sideways) and, in hot weather, full sun, with no means of moving to escape it. 7/13
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Miles of stone walls supporting millions of lichens. Part plant, part fungi, part human endeavour.
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@Jemimasgarden
But I think you misunderstand my main point. I do care. Passionately. And have done for decades. My point is that rescues might do more harm than good, for the reasons given. And because I care, I believe we should reflect on that, and do better for this animal.
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If you regularly take part in organised crime then why would you worry about behaving in a way that's socially irresponsible?
The Beaufort Hunt today. Words & image by Cirencester Illegal Hunt Watch. Outrageous!
‘We estimate there were close on 100 horses carrying adults and children taking part today – not to mention the grooms, followers, friends and family that arrive to mingle after the meet’
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The Curlews have gone from these hills. One might fly up from the coast in spring, calling. Then nothing. They live on, for now, in the Blackbirds. A snatch of song has you looking up, in hope, before you realise you've been had. Again. And how long before the Blackbirds forget?
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@Alexander_Lees
Let’s focus on that rather than getting side-tracked. And let’s make sure we subject each new reintroduction proposal to legitimate scrutiny (no matter who is involved) to assess whether it will improve things or whether it might actually do more harm than good. Ends
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The contrast between improved silage fields and old meadows is striking at this time of year. You have to watch your feet in the meadows to avoid trampling the waxcaps. Crossing the silage fields, there’s no point looking down.
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If those involved in the sport won’t accept there’s a problem then opposition to shooting as a whole is the only realistic option left for tackling illegal persecution. I’m getting ever closer to that position based on endless articles like this one.
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It’s worth remembering that Goshawks are still missing from much of Britain. They should be far more common. Goshawk is the weak link in claims that persecution by gamekeepers is now rare in lowland Britain. Most people still don’t get to see this bird in their local countryside.
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Currently proof reading a chapter that refers to this book (generically and this particular copy). I’m always amazed it doesn’t get more recognition when birders discuss their formative books. It’s still a fantastic read - with added poignancy for all the changes that we’ve seen.
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‘A full moon is about six times brighter than a first or second quarter moon. It’s only twice the area but the sun shines directly upon it (rather than at an angle) and so far more of the reflected light is beamed down here to Earth.’
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Powerful stuff, but I still don’t get the ‘mysticism’ and the idea that we might be ‘honouring the sacred’. I don’t think most people get it. Why is it relevant? Can’t we just protect nature for the essential benefits it brings, nothing more?
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