Nature Book Reader June 2020 - Flipbook - Page 59
‘the good death’ for a fox.
Carter had a
cinematographer’s eye, and
one of his most effective skills
is to ‘pull focus’, zooming
out from his subject – say,
a fox curling up with its
brush across its nose – to a
wider picture, taking in the
tormentil opening its petals
on the high moor, a farm dog
barking half a mile away, and
a raven flying far overhead.
Done right, it’s a magical
trick, and one I’d love to be
able to replicate in my own
books,
if I only knew how.
In 2005 A Black Fox
Running was nominated as
one of the classics of British
nature writing by readers of
The Guardian. “I couldn’t
believe it when the book
appeared on the Guardian
list,” said Carter. “It is an
honour to be among those
other writers.” For me, his
place was more than well
earned.
Further Reading
Memoirs of a FoxHunting Man
by Siegfried Sassoon
Collins New Naturalist: Dartmoor
by Ian Mercer
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