Robert Lloyd Praeger (1865-1953) explored almost every part of the Irish coast in his quest to record its natural history. His wife, Hedwig, accompanied him on many of his adventures. (courtesy of the Royal Irish Academy)
Harbour seals are found in many sheltered bays and inlets around the Irish coast. The pups are born in mid-summer and can swim from birth. (courtesy of John Fox)
The compass jellyfish is one of the larger floating animals in Irish inshore waters. It is named because of the markings which resemble the cardinal points on a compass. (courtesy of John Fox)
Rockabill is located off the north Dublin coast. The rocks around the lighthouse hold a huge colony of nesting terns, small migratory seabirds that breed here in summer.
Kittiwakes are the smallest of the gulls, often gluing their nests to narrow ledges or vertical cliff faces. They have declined rapidly due to food shortage caused by overfishing. (courtesy of Brian Burke)
Brent geese have adapted to live within urban areas where they feed, not only on estuarine plants but also on sports pitches and other amenity grasslands.
Yellow horned-poppy at the Murrough in County Wicklow. This is a typical shingle beach plant.
The ruins of Black Castle in Wicklow Town silhouetted against a dawn sky. The castle was repeatedly burnt and destroyed in the wars between invaders and residents.
Puffins are probably the best-known seabirds with their colourful bills and clown-like appearance. They nest in underground burrows, mainly on offshore islands. (courtesy of John Fox)
Tourist boats below the cliffs of Wexford’s Great Saltee Island ply the waters once used by smugglers and pirates.
A storm lashes the seafront of Dunmore East in County Waterford. (© Liam Blake)
The impressive battlements of Charles Fort guard the entrance to Kinsale Harbour in County Cork. This was used as a garrison from the seventeenth century up to the Civil War of the 1920s.
Common dolphins off the coast of West Cork. These marine mammals often move about in large schools and are frequently attracted close to boats. (courtesy of Tatiana Lie Kumagia)
The remarkable monastic remains on Skellig Michael seen from the air. This remote spot was occupied by a group of monks from the 6th Century AD. (© Liam Blake)
The grey seal colony below the old village on the Great Blasket is one of the largest in Ireland. The seals were once hunted by the islanders but have multiplied with legal protection. (© Liam Blake)
A sea arch at the Bridges of Ross in County Clare shows the power of the Atlantic and the pressure that has caused these folds in the rock over geological time.
A cottage and stone pier in Connemara. Hundreds of small piers were built in the late nineteenth century by the Congested Districts Board to stimulate fishing on the west coast.
A tree in Connemara shows the effects of almost constant winds on the Atlantic coast.
Keem Bay in Achill Island was the scene of historical mass killing of basking sharks that almost caused their extinction.
Achill Yawls are wooden sailing boats with an old-fashioned gaff rig. In recent years there has been a revival of interest in this traditional vessel with a workshop at Mulranny to build new yawls.
The remains of a century-old whaling station on South Inishkea Island with the deserted village in the background.
Grey seal with a young pup. The pups are born in the autumn on remote beaches and in caves where they are far from disturbance. (courtesy of John Fox)
A walker on the beach at Enniscrone, County Sligo watches surfers in the waves. The north-west of Ireland offers some of the best surfing conditions in Europe.
Oystercatchers are among the most easily recognised waders on the Irish coast. They feed on a variety of shellfish and worms, in estuaries, rocky shores and coastal grasslands. (courtesy of John Fox)
Tory Island, lying 12 kilometres off the Donegal coast, is one of the more remote inhabited offshore islands. It is one of the last refuges in Ireland of the threatened corncrake. (© Liam Blake)
Malin Head is the most northerly point of the Irish mainland and windiest site in the country. The steep slopes in the fields represent ancient shorelines when sea level was much higher than today.
Dunluce Castle County, Antrim is perched on the edge of basalt rocks and can be reached by a bridge from the mainland. (© Liam Blake)
Flooding at Clontarf in Dublin City. Sea level rise and an increase in frequency of storms is causing flooding in many low-lying parts of the coast. (courtesy of John Fox)
The lighthouse on Hook Head, County Wexford, is thought to be the oldest in Ireland or Britain, dating originally from the 5th century. The rocks around the shore are full of large fossils, and the seabed is rich in marine life.
The author sailing past the Fastnet Rock, the most southerly point of the Irish coast.