With an expression of sheer ecstasy, a tigress hugs an ancient Manchurian fir, rubbing her cheek against bark to leave secretions from her scent glands. She is an Amur, or Siberian, tiger, here in the Land of the Leopard National Park, in the Russian Far East. The race –now regarded as the same subspecies as the Bengal tiger -- is found only in this region, with a small number surviving over the border in China and possibly a few in North Korea. Scouring the forest for signs, focusing on trees along regular routes where tigers might have left messages–scent, hairs, urine or scratch marks -- he installed his first proper camera trap in January 2019, opposite this grandfir. But it was not until November that he achieved the picture he had planned for, of a magnificent tigress in her Siberian forest environment. Photograph: Sergey Gorshkov/Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2020

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