RUNNERS-UP BIRDS

This magical photo of a lone heron was taken at his local park by Stephen Carrigan, 55, from Liverpool.

‘I got a new digital camera, a Panasonic Lumix TZ4, as a birthday present about four years ago and my interest has progressed from there. I always carry it with me and tend to take pictures as I travel to and from work. It was about 9am one morning last summer and I was driving past Newsham Park when I noticed a heron fly in. So I went exploring, and when I popped my head through the bushes this was what I saw. To my eye, it looks almost Oriental.’ John Marsh, 80, from Newport, took this enchanting shot of a pair of egrets and their

reflections in the water. ‘The RSPB Newport Wetlands Reserve is about ten minutes from where I live and I spend a lot of time in the hides there. I was in a hide with my Canon 7D Mk II and these birds were about 50ft away so they wouldn’t have been aware of me. I hadn’t seen them perform like this before but it was spring so it may have been part of a courting ritual. I took as many shots as I could, but this was the one that captured them best.’

LIZ BONNIN SAYS ‘This is reminiscent of a Japanese painting. Stephen is a skilled artist himself. He has achieved a beautiful, stylised image of striking colours.’ GRAY LEVETT SAYS ‘However adept you are, luck plays a part in many photographs – and this is four for the price of two.’

SIMON STAFFORD SAYS ‘I like the symmetry of the ripples around the swan, the drama of the sun rising behind it and the composition of the picture. It’s very accomplished.’

Sue Lindenberg, 71, from Teddington in Middlesex, caught this stunning image of a swan preening itself – her very own Swan Lake – in Richmond Park in London.

‘I really only took up photography in earnest when I retired early after an accident seven years ago.

I like to rise at dawn and go to either Bushy Park or Richmond Park to photograph the wildlife. Some of the swans at Richmond, this one included, have got to know me over the years which is why they stick around when I turn up on my bicycle. They know I’ll feed them. I took this shot with my Nikon D750 at about 4.45am in the summer, with the sun just rising in the background.

I fed the swan and then lay on my stomach for about 30 minutes and waited for him to start preening, as I knew he would.’