By Pádraic Fogarty
Once alive with vast shoals of herring, rivers teeming with salmon, and skies filled with curlew and geese, Ireland’s natural world has been quietly vanishing within a single lifetime. In Whittled Away, ecologist and environmental campaigner Pádraic Fogarty delivers a stark and deeply researched account of how modern industry, pollution, and unsustainable farming have pushed our wildlife to the brink.
Drawing on decades of ecological expertise, Fogarty traces how the country’s political and economic choices have eroded its natural heritage — and how this loss threatens not just our wildlife, but our cultural identity, rural communities, and the future of sustainable tourism and agriculture.
Yet this is also a book of hope and renewal. Fogarty outlines a compelling vision for restoration — from seas once again filled with fish to farmlands that work in harmony with nature, and forests that sustain both people and wildlife. He even imagines the return of long-lost native species such as wolves, wild boar, and cranes, showing how Ireland could once more become a thriving, biodiverse island.
A vital read for anyone who cares about Ireland’s wild places, this book is both a warning and a roadmap for a better future.
A passionate, evidence-based account of Ireland’s environmental crisis
Explores how politics, farming, and industry shape the natural world
Offers practical, hopeful solutions for ecological restoration
Essential reading for conservationists, nature lovers, and policymakers
Pádraic Fogarty is a professional ecologist and environmental advocate. Formerly the Chairman of the Irish Wildlife Trust, he now serves as its Campaigns Officer and editor of Irish Wildlife magazine. A lifelong champion for Ireland’s biodiversity, he holds degrees in Environmental Protection, Environment and Geography.
This section doesn’t currently include any content. Add content to this section using the sidebar.
