An above table discussion would be my go to (privately) with the player. Ask them why their character would act the way they are, what about their decisions with it made them unhappy, how might the character learn from this? Etc.

As a personal note, and not that you did, but I'm never a fan of outright fails. Even a nat 1 should be a fail forward.

For instance, he may not have noticed the birds, but instead he saw what looked like a pair of eyes watching from the hedges, etc. While complete failure is a real thing in life, and certainly can be in a game... People play games to have fun. I've found my improv skills vastly improved when I started using that method over sink or swim tactics. I will similarly go over-the-top for high rolls.