Rachel McKenna is a dedicated naturalist and citizen scientist who has been involved in documenting species with the National Biodiversity Data Centre and several special interest groups, such as 'Insects and Invertebrates of Ireland', 'MothsIreland', and 'British and Irish Sawflies'.Rachel is the Senior Executive Architect in Offaly County Council and the author of three books on architecture. Her most recent work, Traditional Architecture in Offaly was shortlisted and received an Honourable Mention in the Katharine Briggs Award 2023. Her other publications include Flights of Fancy: Follies, Families and Demesnes in Offaly (2017) and Geashill: The Evolution of its Architecture (2012).

'The author gives a lovely descriptive sense of what is expected, for example, starting in January which is a “generally cold, grey month in Ireland”. Each week and month proceed similarly and gives an honest appraisal of Ireland and what might be expected, for example when the author describes visiting a “damp, uninspiring day” at Clara Bog in June. All this narrative is not overly intrusive and adds character...I was taken aback by the detailed and beautiful artwork of nature which appears liberally throughout this book – all illustrated and designed by the author!...What I love most about this book is the sheer scale of diversity of Irish biodiversity covered within. The Index alone is 21 pages, a testament to the book’s coverage. There are groups of species covered in this book I don’t think I have ever seen in other ‘popular’ publications such as, for example, caddisflies, gall-living insects, hoverflies, lacehoppers, sawflies, and various varieties of plant and fungi.It truly is a deep dive into Irish nature.