Continued from last Saturday We saw plenty more wildlife during the rest of our stay but after those two days in the north of the island, the recce had served its purpose. I already knew I’d be coming back. I spent the rest of the time getting to know the place as thoroughly as I…
Tag: Ian Carter
Guest blog series, A Break from Humanity (12) by Ian Carter.
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Continued from last Saturday A few days later I went back to the north-east of the island, this time with my fishing rod, threading it through the tall stems of Bracken as I walked, or even hoisting it over my head, above the dense canopy of fronds. I’d not managed to find anywhere else on…
Guest blog series, A Break from Humanity (11) by Ian Carter.
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Continued from last Saturday Down on a remote stretch of rocky coastline, away from the woodland I had walked through, the feel of the place was very different. The magic of the woodland on the slopes above was closed off from view by a shielding canopy of leaves, and the wood itself was dwarfed by…
Sunday book review – The Wild Remedy by Emma Mitchell
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Reviewed by Ian Carter It is increasingly widely recognised that nature is good for us. Most of us instinctively know this to be true and the science is gradually getting to grips with how this works; the biochemistry of a visit to the local woods and its impacts on our health and well-being. Science is…
Guest blog series, A Break from Humanity (10) by Ian Carter.
Continued from last Saturday After a few days of getting to know the Colonsay, with lots of short drives and walks to the most accessible places, I thought it was time to venture out into one of the more remote and wilder parts of the island. A look at the Ordnance Survey map drew me…
Guest blog series, A Break from Humanity (9) by Ian Carter.
Continued from last Saturday Walking out from the cottage one morning we came across a freshly dead sheep not far from the house, interrupting the feeding aspirations of a young Great Black-backed Gull and two Hooded Crows as we approached. It was so fresh, I half-expected it to struggle to its feet, but the eyes…
Guest blog series, A Break from Humanity (8) by Ian Carter.
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Continued from last Saturday If you read anything about the island of Colonsay you probably won’t get far without a reference to ‘the Scottish Highlands and Islands in miniature’. A cursory assessment from the deck of the ferry, followed by a twenty-minute drive around the island’s only single-track loop road showed why it had earned…
Guest blog series, A Break from Humanity (7) by Ian Carter.
Continued from last Saturday My potential destination for a spell of immersion in nature was, inevitably, chosen from the comfort of an armchair, aided by implausible online images of sun-drenched, white-sand beaches, and idyllic descriptions. The obvious next step, before launching headlong into the unknown, was a dose of realism. I needed to go there…
Guest blog series, A Break from Humanity (6) by Ian Carter.
Continued from Monday My interest in wildlife is all-pervading. It’s something I’m aware of, or at least alert to, all the time. I’d describe it as a mindset or a way of life rather than a hobby. And yet I felt it was gradually being eroded, despite a concerted effort over the past two years…
Guest blog series, A Break from Humanity (5) by Ian Carter.
Continued from yesterday It was my growing interest in wild food that, indirectly, helped me to crystallise my thoughts on my relationship with the natural world. I had been reading The Wild Life by John Lewis-Stempel in which he describes a year living on his small-holding in rural Herefordshire, feeding himself only on the wild plants…