I am planning to write a book, provisionally entitled ‘Cross-currents’, which would detail and celebrate both the human history and natural history of St George’s Channel and its facing coasts, thus connecting the ports of Dublin, Fishguard, Holyhead, Pembroke Dock and Rosslare. I also hope to explore their hinterlands, as all of these five places are within easy reach of internationally important wildlife sites and of course the Irish Sea itself is an important habitat for seabirds and cetaceans.
The sea between Ireland and Wales has long been a place of exchange, with trade in ideas, goods and even religion and I intend to chart these connections from the days of early saints, crossing from country to country in open craft to the roll-on, roll-off ferries of today. The book will be punctuated with profiles of people whose lives connect with the sea, from coastguards to captains, from fishermen to marine biologists.
Wexford Wildfowl Reserve hosts about two-thirds of Ireland’s approximately 12,000 Greenland White-fronted Geese, which make up half the world population.
