First captivated by the Burren in the early 1970s, Gordon D'Arcy has spent over thirty years living on its edge and exploring its remarkable natural heritage and rich human history. Now he celebrates the flora, fauna and people of the region with stories from his diaries and original watercolours that convey a deep affection and intimacy. Join Gordon in rambling the length and breadth of this renowned place, through its moods and seasons, befriending its diverse inhabitants, and breathing the Atlantic air that whispers its welcome to all comers.
Acknowledgments
Map
Introduction
1 Halcyon Days
2 Dawn Chorus
3 Beloved Bully
4 Butterfly Men
5 A Day in the Life
6 Gentian
7 Flowers, Flowers, Flowers
8 Lost and Found
9 Found and Lost
10 Orchid Hunters
11 'Like an Attenborough Documentary'
12 The Land Winkle
13 Hooked Beaks and Talons
14 Old Goats
15 Turlough Traipsing
16 A Great Hike
17 Not Enough to Bury a Man
18 A Night in a Doline
19 Pine Martens
20 Stoat Antics
21 Dolphin Days
22 Dusty
23 Storm Birds
24 Carrickadda
25 Finding Fossils
26 Cave Insights
27 Life Down Below
28 Rockforest Relict
29 The Caher River
30 A Dandy's Refrain
31 Winter's Gift
32 Aliens and Invasives
33 Forward from the Past
34 Burren of the Fertile Mind
35 What Use the Burren
36 How Much is the Burren Worth?
37 Sacred Mountain
38 Sleeping Giant
Further Reading
Gordon D'Arcy is an environmental writer, artist and educator. The main focus of his work has been the limestone habitat of the Burren. Guiding Burren lovers and visitors alike, educating schoolchildren, and lecturing in the Burren College of Art, he has always kept his enthusiasm for this internationally important landscape. The author of several natural history books, he has illustrated Ireland's Animals: Myths, Legends and Folklore (2010) and Ireland's Birds: Myths, Legends and Folklore (2015) both by Niall MacCoitir.
"I have read several books about the Burren, Ireland's ecological showpiece, but none offered such rounded, instructive enjoyment as The Breathing Burren."
– Michael Viney, The Irish Times