Why Do Birds Suddenly Disappear?

the long version

At twelve years old, Lev Parikian was an avid birdwatcher. He was also a fraud, a liar and a cheat. Those lists of birds seen and ticked off? Lies. One hundred and thirty species? More like sixty. Then, when he turned fifty, he decided to right his childhood wrongs. He would go birdwatching again. He would not lie. He would aim to see two hundred species of British bird in a year. This is the story of that year, a story about birds, family, music, nostalgia, the nature of obsession and obsession with nature.