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.

As well as the species accounts, there are a number of essays on aspects of Irish bird life. Some of these deal with practical things like choosing the right binoculars and telescope or the technical names for the different parts of a bird’s plumage. Others deal with subjects like bird migration or moulting and a final category is devoted to something which is a theme throughout the book —- the conservation of Irish birds.

The principal author, Anthony McGeehan, has a lovely way of using the English language which is imaginative and often quite witty. The science is bang up to date and he’s often dealing with material from rather turgid academic papers but he manages to make it immensely readable. I also like the fact that he’s not afraid to be opinionated.

The best way of illustrating what I mean is a short quote. This comes from the section on the ring ouzel, a summer migrant thrush species that is extremely endangered in Ireland.

“Beale et al. (2006) suggest: ‘Knowledge might allow management aimed at buffering the impacts of climate change on Ring Ouzels.’ The article is written in the impenetrable patois of academia — jargon that excludes interested readers —- and is waffle.”

That sort of ability to engage with high science and to rubbish it when it’s obviously wrong is all too rare.

Birds Through Irish Eyes, is published by the Collins Press and is €39.99.

Nature table

Newts spend most of the summer months in the water but in October they crawl out onto land to look for a place to hibernate. Sometimes they travel considerable distances looking for a suitable spot and occasionally the search brings them into houses.

They need a damp, well-insulated spot to shelter during hibernation — under a rotting log, in a damp wall crevice or in a compost heap. Late hatched tadpoles occasionally over-winter in the water.

There is only one species in Ireland, the common or smooth newt. They are widespread but not particularly common.

The only thing they can be confused with is the common or viviparous lizard, but they’re amphibians not reptiles and not really very similar.

They are completely protected in the Republic (somewhat less so in Northern Ireland) and sightings should be reported to the Irish Peatland Conservation Council which is conducting a nationwide survey of their status.