Wild Galloway

Thoughtful and reflective, full of the life-affirming pleasures of time spent in natureAn introduction to Galloway's habitats and their uniquely varied wildlifeConveys the joy of getting to know a place intimately by exploring it on foot

Ian Carter has always loved wildness andliving in places where wildlife takes centre stage. His new home is tucked awaybetween the high, heather-clad hills of Bengairn and the shining, silver Solwaywith its merse, mudflats and spectacular cliffs. Guarding the bay iswhale-backed Hestan Island with its raucous seabird colonies. Here, once thetide moves back in across the causeway, there is only wildlife for company. 

Sights and sounds in the glen aredominated by the more-than-human world. Red squirrels peer in through thewindows, pine martens patrol the woods and on a good day a golden eagle willcruise overhead, helping to complete the place. Pink-feet and barnacle geeseswirl above the autumn fields and thousands of common scoter, one of theSolway’s special birds, dot the murky offshore waters. 

There is something special about this place. It encompasses the full range of Galloway's wildlife habitats. Within walking distance of home there are moors, plantations, flower-rich meadows, fragments of native woodland, and a little, stony burn that rushes down through the farms to the Solway: this glen is wild Galloway in miniature.Ian's book is, at once, a portrait of a singular patch of ground, and an introduction to Galloway's wild places and the wildlife that lives there.  .