Amazing award-winning animal photos
- Published
The winners of the Wonderful Wildlife Photography Competition have been announced and this beautiful photo of a stag in London’s Richmond Park was crowned the winner this year. Photographer Mark Lynham managed to get the shot on his first ever trip to Richmond Park! "We arrived as dawn was breaking... It was very quiet and very still, and after a while I had that feeling that I was being watched," said Mark. We can imagine the feeling!
This cute photo of rare Arctic fox cub in Norway came second, taken by Cecilie Stuedal. Cecilie snapped it when she was on a trip with her dad. "They are one of my favourite animals and I have been wanting to photograph one for years," Cecilie says. The Arctic fox population in Norway is endangered so just to see one is quite special.
This photo of a red back shrike with a grasshopper in its mouth was taken by Alan Shearman. Shrikes are just a bit bigger than sparrows and like to perch on the tops of bushes, fence posts and telephone wires where they have a good view of potential snacks! Caught prey is then taken to a 'larder' to be kept for a meal later.
Another stag photo also made it onto the list, captured by Ann Aveyard in Bushy Park, London – not far from where the winning shot was taken. Ann said: "When I arrived I could hear stags roaring all over the park – it is a quite an eerie sound in the semi-gloom of dawn... I used a telephoto lens so that I could photograph from a safe distance and not disturb the animals.."
Other winning snaps include this picture of a kestrel in flight with its prey taken by Maggie Bullock. Kestrels eat small mammals and birds, worms and insects. They have adapted to man-made environments and can survive right in the centre of cities where they are a familiar sight with their pointed wings and long tail - so keep an eye out for them!