BIRDWATCHING is relaxing and environmentally friendly but it is hardly recommended therapy to bring back together a father and son separated by a war, mass unemployment and more than a decade of estrangement.

Yan is the man sent by Thatcher to fight in the Falklands; Dan is his son, savaged by Thatcher’s economic policies, and as the years drag and Yan fails to return home to his native Teesside, despair becomes the central theme of their lives. Until, that is, Yan does return and father and son find a channel of communication through birdwatching at the likes of Back Saltholme, Greatham Creek and Seal Sands. Stockton-born Steven Baker’s story is one of soul-searching and mental torment but also a revelation of the healing powers inherent in nature.

Uplifting and inspiring.