The Times Nature Book of the Year 2020 Winner of the PEN E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing
Award A Finalist for the Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year Award 'Remarkable. If only
every endangered species had a guardian angel as impassioned courageous and pragmatic as
Jonathan Slaght' Isabella Tree author of Wilding 'Gripping' Dave Goulson author of A Sting in
the Tale Primorye a remote forested region near to where Russia China and North Korea meet in
a tangle of barbed wire is the only place where brown bears tigers and leopards co-exist. It
is also home to one of nature's rarest birds the Blakiston's fish owl. A chance encounter with
this huge strange bird was to change wildlife researcher Jonathan C. Slaght's life beyond
measure. This is the story of Slaght's quest to safeguard the elusive owl from extinction.
During months-long journeys covering thousands of miles he has pursued it through its
forbidding territory. He has spent time with the Russians who struggle on in the harsh
conditions of the taiga forest. And he has observed how Russia's logging interests and evolving
fortunes present new threats to the owl's survival. Preserving its habitats will secure the
forest for future generations both animal and human - but can this battle be won? Exhilarating
and clear-sighted Owls of the Eastern Ice is an impassioned reflection on our relationship
with the natural world and on what it means to devote one's career to a single pursuit. 'Slaght
makes the people wildlife and landscape of the Russian Far East come alive. I haven't enjoyed
a book on remote Russia as much as this since Ian Frazier's Travels in Siberia' Sophy Roberts
author of The Lost Pianos of Siberia 'True epic. Powerful passionate' Charles Foster author
of Being a Beast
