Friday, November 10, 2006

Book: Complete Irish Wildlife

By Paul Sterry, Published by Collins, 2004. Small enough to slip in a Hermes handbag, comprehensive enough to iD the slugs eating your vegetables, simple enough to quickly satisfy your bird spotting tendencies. The wipeclean covers are a blessing if you spill your sunscreen, but the size of the photos makes plant identification difficult. Descriptions are short and leave you wanting more, which may be a good thing. The introduction is by Derek Mooney (more on him later). If you only want one guide this is a good place to start.
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The island of ireland

Once upon a time, and for 15000 years, ice a mile high blanketed Ireland. When the lingering Ice Age finally released and the Irish ice departed it left a landscape scoured. Across land bridges linking Ireland, Britain and mainland Europe plants and animals arrived to colonise the new lowlands, mountains and valleys. The world’s ice continued to melt, the sea levels to rise, and some 8000 years ago Ireland became the island we now know, accounting for just 0.01% of the world's total land area and the most westerly point of Europe.

Though at Alaskan latitudes, the country's climate is tempered, due partly to the neighbouring waters of the Gulf Stream and partly the prevailing southwesterlies that veering and backing make landfall on our sodden coast. These offerings from the Atlantic mean it is never too hot, never too cold. But without doubt it is wet. Rain lingers year round, never far away, though is most frequent in winter, the western counties and, inevitably, on the day of your parade.