There’s a passage in Diary of a Young Naturalist (Little Toller) in which Dara McAnulty writes of trips on which each member of his family, from youngest to oldest, chooses a song to be played on the car stereo: “Our journeys around Fermanagh usually take half an hour, which means two music cycles each — though Bláthnaid [his sister] sometimes gets three, depending on traffic. Today is one of those days, so when ‘My Little Pony’ comes back on again Lorcan [his brother] and I roll our eyes and try not to moan at the high-pitched rubbish about everyone being winners and other saccharine impossibilities…”

Yesterday, Dara, an autistic boy of 16 who loves punk music and wants to be a scientist, was a winner. He took the Wainwright Prize for UK nature writing for his extraordinary debut, in which he tells of the connections he feels to wildlife, the way he sees the world, and how he weathers storms with the help of a family who are “as close as otters”.

This year’s prize was extended to include a second category for books about global conservation and climate change. The winner was Benedict Macdonald for Rebirding (Pelagic Publishing), which, the judges say, “sets out a compelling manifesto for restoring Britain’s wildlife, rewilding its species and restoring rural jobs – to the benefit of all”.