THREE keen wildlife photographers from Bromsgrove have won a place on Worcestershire Wildlife Trust's annual charity calendar.
The photography competition invited people to enter images of the wildlife and wild places that can be found throughout the county, from common to rare species and from gardens and greenspaces to towns and countryside
Twelve winners beat off competition from 80 photographers, who submitted over 400 images.
The top prize went to Rebekah Nash from Catshill for her image of two great crested grebes performing a courtship dance at Arrow Valley Country Park, Redditch which will appear on the front cover of the calender.
Rebekah, whose image was chosen by a public vote across the trust’s social media channels in June, said: “I am absolutely thrilled to have been chosen as one of the twelve winning images to grace this year’s calendar. And to then be chosen as the overall winner, I am lost for words!
“There are some amazing photographers out there that not only take good images but spend years studying their subject. I am humbled to call them my friends, we share images, locations and occasionally bump into each other as we wonder along the paths of the trust’s nature reserves.
“I spend most of my free time watching and photographing kingfishers and dragonflies so this win is especially special as this is a new subject that I chose to watch and learn over the past two years."
Two other photographer enthusiasts from Bromsgrove also made it on to the calendar.
David Cole's image of a grass snake at Hanbury Hall features on the month June and Richard Clifford's image of wood ants at Trench Wood nature reserve features for July.
Wendy Carter, organiser of the competition, said: “We knew that lockdown had given people the opportunity to spend more time noticing nature but we were overwhelmed with entries to this year’s competition.
“Our beautiful county is home to lots of fascinating wildlife and, as we discover every year, it’s also home to some very talented photographers who enjoy watching wildlife.
“Congratulations to the winners and runners up and a big thank you to everyone who entered, helping us to produce a beautiful calendar full of fabulous images and that helps our conservation work right across Worcestershire.”
Each winning photograph features as an A4 image in the trust’s 2022 calendar. A further 24 photographs by runners up feature as smaller inserts.
The calendar is available to buy for £8 from the trust’s online shop.
All proceeds directly benefit the trust’s work to protect Worcestershire’s wildlife and wild places.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here