South west Scotland is a region close to my heart; for much of my life it was little more than an hour’s drive away, and I would regularly head to its coasts, woodlands, and hills in search of relative peace, wildlife, and a sense of ‘wildness’. Now, living as I do in the flatlands of Norfolk, the rolling vistas of south-west Scotland seem like another world altogether. Ian Carter, by contrast, moved from the Cambridgeshire Fens to Devon, before retiring north to Galloway in 2022. A professional ornithologist of many years, his desire to find a place where nature was somehow less impacted by human presence drew him to this rather remote corner of the UK.

This is a book not just about the often-spectacular wildlife of this nature-rich area, but also about the sheer joy of discovering a new place and how its varied habitats came to be. Ian Carter writes in the truly authentic voice of one who not only really understands nature but is constantly and positively overjoyed and awed by it. An ornithologist he may be, but he is also a skilled amateur enthusiast in all disciplines of natural history, from botany to geology. Human history looms large too, as he discusses the impacts of our presence on the land, from ancient to modern day. Despite much evidence of the hand of human intervention, Carter is still able to find and define the appeal of a less-manicured landscape when he writes of Galloway, “There may be no wilderness left, but there is ‘wildness’ here in abundance.” Few places on these islands can claim such distinction.

The author’s joy in getting out and exploring, observing, and appreciating his new backyard oozes from the pages, and as I joined him on each glen, and beside every burn, I felt as though I was in the company of a great teacher, constantly learning something new. There is of course the ever-present reminder that our lands are not in as good a shape as they could be, for nature at least. But that doesn’t stop Carter from finding plenty to enthuse about. He sums this up neatly when he writes, “These days, if you are an ornithologist who aspires to learn the names of a few more wild flowers, if you enjoy walking through meadows where grasshoppers leap up from your feet with every step, if you want to watch myriad butterflies and bees skip from one plant to the next, or if you habitually snack on edible leaves or mushrooms as you walk, then it is to the one of these small surviving scraps of land that you must come.”

Somewhat sandwiched between the double allure of the Lake District and the vast, rugged and classic Highland and Island landscapes to the north, Dumfries and Galloway is routinely overlooked by birders from south of the border. This corner of Scotland certainly deserves more attention, and this book will surely encourage more people to investigate its jagged beauty.

Reviewed by

Jon Carter