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Bird Therapy

Bird Therapy cover

Bird Therapy

Quantity
Pre-order. Available 25 Feb 2027
$24.87

Payment for this pre-order will be taken when the item becomes available

Description

A new edition of Joe Harkness' inspiring memoir about birds, mental health and finding meaning in nature.

When Joe Harkness suffered a breakdown in 2013, he followed his doctor's advice: medication helped, counselling reframed his thinking and mindfulness softened the noise inside his head. But it was birds – and the simple, absorbing act of watching them – that grounded him most deeply and helped him begin to accept who he was.

As birdwatching became a daily practice, Joe found calm, focus and meaning in the rhythms of the natural world. What began as a quiet form of personal therapy soon grew into something larger: a way of understanding himself, his anxieties and his place in the world.

First published in 2018, Bird Therapy struck a chord with readers navigating their own mental health journeys. In this revised edition, Joe revisits the book several years on, reflecting on fatherhood, identity and an ADHD diagnosis that has reshaped how he understands his mind. With fresh insight, he explores how birdwatching has remained not a cure, but a vital companion – a way of regulating, reconnecting and going back to basics in an increasingly noisy world.

Combining memoir, nature writing and practical reflection, this new edition of Bird Therapy invites readers to slow down, look up and rediscover the quiet, restorative power of noticing the life around them.

Accessibility Information

Additional accessibility information

  • EPUB 3.0
  • Conforms with the requirements of EPUB Accessibility Spec v1.1
  • WCAG level AA
  • WCAG v2.2 compliant
  • accessibility@bloomsbury.com

Hazards

The publication contains no hazards

Support for non-visual reading

  • No accessibility features offered by the reading system, device or reading software are disabled or otherwise unusable with the product
  • Has alternative text descriptions for images

Visual adjustments

Appearance of the text and page layout can be modified according to the capabilities of the reading system (font family and size, spaces, as well as color of background and text)

Navigation

  • Page list to go to pages from the print source version
  • Elements such as headings, tables, etc for structured navigation
  • All or substantially all textual matter is arranged in a single logical reading order
  • Content is enhanced with ARIA roles to optimize organization and facilitate navigation
  • Purposes of all links are made clear

Rich content

Language tagging provided

Table of Contents

Foreword to the original edition by Chris Packham
Prologue to the new edition by Joe Harkness

Chapter One – A breakdown, a buzzard and the Broads
Chapter Two – A survey, a definition and the five ways to well-birding
Chapter Three – A dunnock, a Pallas's Warbler and a multitude of patterns
Chapter Four – A pipit, a woodlark and an evening concerto
Chapter Five – A bittern, the binocular code and the art of finding rarities
Chapter Six – An egret, a kingfisher and remembering to feed the birds
Chapter Seven – A local patch, two diving ducks and a mountain blackbird
Chapter Eight – A sea-duck flotilla, flock unity and the march of the fieldfare
Chapter Nine – Hirundine flocks, spring passage and the warbler diaries
Chapter Ten – The goldcrest crescendo, wind-flattened reeds and sixty pied flycatchers
Chapter Eleven – Running with nature, sea-smoothed shingle and a miracle cure
Chapter Twelve – Bramble patches, a garden warbler and learning through experience
Chapter Thirteen – An evolving hobby, a return to the heath and going to back to basics

Epilogue – Nest building, gradual realisations and the noise behind the binoculars

Notes
Bird-therapy prompts and birdwatching advice
Author acknowledgements
Index

Product details

Published 25 Feb 2027
Format Ebook (Epub & Mobi)
Edition 2nd
Pages 256
ISBN 9781399432368
Imprint Bloomsbury Wildlife
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Author

Joe Harkness

Joe Harkness is a naturalist and writer. He has wr…

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