Local histories do more than give a boost to the community concerned they open up vistas for the rest of us, add to the knowledge of ourselves as a people. Wexford is a name known throughout the world of theatre and music for its famous festival, its unique festival. Wexford is also a byword among naturalists and bird folk in general, including shooters, for the Wexford Slobs. But it is more than that. It is a lovely county that intriguingly took the fancy of Lloyd Praeger, particularly with the language of the settlers that Strongbow put in place when he had cleared out the resident population.
But a book has now been published which, ostensibly concerned to a great extent by the North and South Slobs and their natural life, is in fact a resounding paean of praise to his county by David Rowe, a Wexfordman, and his colleague Christopher J. Wilson. High Skies - Low Lands is a handsome book subtitled An Anthology of the Wexford Slobs and Harbour, which goes far beyond those bounds. It is an anniversary celebration for in 1846, legislation was introduced into Westminster to open the path for what became the works which led to the reclaiming of the North and South Slobs.
So there's a lot about birds in the book. But if you don't know a mallard from a teal, you will still be moved by the love of that fascinating county. It's an anthology, some of the material taken from existing material, some written specifically for the book and some the fruit of discussions and interviews. David Daly is the chief illustrator, including the cover paintings. The last chapter is a lovely sentimental piece by John Banville, who tells us that lupins are for him what the madeleine was to Proust, and he evokes childhood memories of Rosslare in the summer, living in a wooden chalet, cooking, at first, on a Primus stove; the horrors of the Elsan which "still strikes dread into my heart", and the early consciousness of girls, les jeunes filles en fleur, as he has it. But there is a huge sweep of knowledgeable and scientific observation. The Harbour; the Rise and Fall of Norse Wexford; Life on the water: Fins and Shells; Fauns and Flora, Men and Myths. And many little diversions. How an argument over the flying speed of golden plover and of grouse led to the publication of The Guinness Book of Records, which became its own record as the top selling copyright book in publishing history. And fine layout and type. All enough to keep the person with an enquiring mind about the natural history of this island busily engaged for many, many winter nights and summer days. David Rowe modestly appears as just one of the two editors. A last little tidbit. In 1918 US seaplanes, spotting submarines, worked out of Ferrybank. They reported back by radio and occasionally by carrier pigeon. The book is £17.95 in a big, bountiful paperback.