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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St Patrick’s Day
On St Patrick’s connection with North Wales, and the debunking of a famous biogeographical myth.
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Literary conventions
Photographers are not unsuccessful painters, and factual writers are not wannabe novelists.
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The real Wuthering Heights
In which I rant about the West Yorkshire Pennines’ identity crisis.
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Feel-good February
This disconcertingly mild winter, I’m going to enjoy February or die in the attempt.
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2025: a year in photos
My fifteenth annual video slideshow.
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Charles Darwin reviews Jane Austen
A short piece to mark the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth.
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…
- 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
There’s barely a page without a surprising fact…whether it’s about a vacuum flask, a hawk or a bilberry. […] Begin the book as you would a moorland walk, happy to put the route map away and just follow where the sheep trods take you—then you’ll likely find the surprising turns and unexpected views a suitable reward.
—Nick Small, Caught by the River
