Reflections On A Summer Sea

This is a wonderful evocation of a magical place caught in time - a funny and touching true story of talented ecologists who, as a hobby, spent forty summers at their privately owned field laboratory in a stunning corner of south-west Ireland. The sea laps on every page, for events take place beside and beneath a stunning marine lake in this beautiful country where myths seep from the ground like will o' the wisps and eccentrics are always in season.

Some of the stars of the book are the marine creatures that occupy the lake: sea urchins that won't dine unless they wear a hat, otters that steal experiments, and worms that will only mate by order of the moon. Their extraordinary behaviour is matched only by that of the ecologists themselves. Their antics, and their interactions with their Irish neighbours, are described with warmth and wit. But for all its humour, this is also moving account of two ecologists who collaborated for forty years until their friendship came to a tragic end.

Mixed together are all the rich flavours of Ireland, the wonders of natural history and the magic of being a marine biologist just for the fun of it.