'A hymn in praise of living, soaring, terrifying grandeur ... his exquisite, poetic language is a sensuous delight without sacrificing scientific accuracy ... A tour de force' Daily Mail

'Lockhart puts the rapture back in the raptor. Raptor rips at its words, turning them into exquisite portraits of the utter wild, shaping soaring, obsessive beauty out of the British landscape and its imperial birds. A true heir to J.A. Baker's The Peregrine, and T.H. White's The Goshawk' Philip Hoare

'In Lockhart's soaring debut he laces vivid prose with illuminating facts ... He elegantly depicts these creatures of the sky and, in doing so, celebrates the natural richness of the country over which they fly' Financial Times

'If you publish a book on birds of prey in the tumultuous wake of Helen MacDonald's prizewinning H is for Hawk, you expect comparisons. James MacDonald Lockhart can relax. His book is outstanding ... Wild birds of prey represent the living spirit of a place- of Britain. In this delicate, complex, open-ended book, full of freshness and movement, he captures that wild spirit without ever making it feel captive' Sunday Times

'Lockhart brings out both the birds' ecstatic gifts of flight but also the tragedy and triumph of their predatory lifestyle... His descriptions are as precise as they are inventive' Observer

'Lockhart is stepping towards the distinguished company of the great modern literary books on birds of prey... The writing, at times, is as good as anything we have on the subject to date' Country Life

'His understanding of raptor ethology shines' Nature

'Any bird of prey fan will find it irresistible ... thoroughly recommended' BirdGuides

'Nothing prepared me for the sustained brilliance and intensity of this book ... Warm, intimate, full of wonder and delight in the ways the birds revealed themselves' Caught by the River