I was looking forward to getting an insight into how Chris grew up with Aspergers and how his love for the natural world grew.

It's not even just written in the third person, much of it is from the imagined point of view of the people around the author. Summary: A young boy is viewed as an outsider by his neighbours, but finds solace in his love of the natural world. It’s brave because it is a self-portrait of a rather weird kid – not good with people and not a bundle of laughs, it seems. With this memoir Chris has succeeded in attracting readers who would perhaps not usually pick up a ‘nature book’. Thus we begin to build a picture of the personality of the boy and how he is viewed by those around him.As an adult, Chris was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, which may explain his social awkwardness as a child and intense obsession with nature; an obsession that he managed to forge into a successful career.

But the creature he most coveted was a kestrel, a real live kestrel, and one day he was to realise that dream. Chris begins his recollections as an introverted, unusual young boy, isolated by his obsessions and a loner at school.The timeline flicks around, with the Summer of 1975, the Summer of his kestrel, playing a centralised role. It is telling of his character that this book is so meticulously and beautifully honed, the language carefully considered and precisely arranged, as though it were a rare eggshell cosseted in cotton wool in a display cabinet.