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.