Ideal guide for bird watchers

NEW books devoted to Irish birds don’t appear that frequently.

When they do, they fall into two main categories — small, practical volumes with water resistant covers designed to be used outdoors, and larger, lavishly illustrated books designed for the indoor celebration of the wonders of the bird world.

Birds Through Irish Eyes by Anthony McGeehan with Julian Wyllie certainly falls into the second category. It’s a big, heavy book, wonderfully illustrated with colour photographs and produced to a very high standard. But it also has some elements of the traditional field guide because each species of Irish bird, arranged in the conventional order, starting with swans and ending with buntings, has a two or three page section to itself.