British photographers are highly commended in Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Wildlife Photographer of the year - 2011

September 2011. British photographers have featured well in the finals of the Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year, the international competition recognised as the ‘Oscars' of nature photography.

• Paul Goldstein was highly commended for his image Taking Flight 
  in the Behaviour: Birds category.
• Ron McCombe has been highly commended for his image Extreme 
  foraging in the Behaviour: Birds category.
• Andy Rouse was highly commended for his image, Making an 
  impression, in the Behaviour: Mammals category.
• Ross Hoddinott was highly commended for his Territorial strut, 
  in the Animal Portraits category. 

The photographs by Ron McCombe, Paul Goldstein, Andy Rouse and 
Ross Hoddinott are among 108 images hand-picked by a jury of 
industry-recognised experts from a pool of almost 41,000 entries 
received from 95 countries.

Taking flight - Paul Goldstein Highly commended - behaviour: birds Paul arrived very early on the shores of Lake Nakuru, Kenya, before the rising sun had burnt off the mist. He had returned to photograph the greater and lesser flamingos and used shade, shadows and silhouettes to create drama, rather than sunlight to emphasize their vivid colours. He was helped by a combination of circumstances: rain during the night, a rapidly clearing sky, enough time for the cold air to form mist over the alkaline waters and a hyena hunting for young or infirm birds along the far shore of the soda lake. The predator set up a wave of panic, with those closest to it taking flight and those nearest to Paul standing alert. Ten minutes later, not only had the whole flock lifted up, but the mist had also burnt off, completely changing the scene.  Canon EOS-1D Mark 4 + 500mm f4 IS lens; 1/5000 sec at f10 (-1.7 e/v); ISO 200; beanbag.

Making an impression - Andy Rouse  Highly commended - behaviour: mammals.  This is the moment that Akarevuro, a young male mountain gorilla, charged at Andy and his companion  in Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda. It had taken a couple of hours' trekking to reach the gorilla band,  which is led by Akarevuro's father, Kwitonda. ‘The group was very chilled', recalls Andy. ‘Kwitonda ate  peacefully, and Akarevuro was hanging out with some females in a clearing.' With hormones raging,  Akarevuro suddenly rushed towards the group of humans. ‘Dense vegetation prevented us from moving back,' says Andy. ‘Akarevuro stopped a few metres away from us, squatted on all fours and remained like that for several minutes to make his point.' Andy sat still, avoided eye contact and waited for the moment to pass. ‘Akarevuro was simply out to impress one of the receptive females,' concludes Andy. ‘And it worked - a little later, we saw him  mating. Nikon D3S + 70-200mm f2.8 lens; 1/3200 sec at f4; ISO 800.

Territorial strut - Highly commended Animal portraits. Ross Hoddinott. Southern Britain experienced an unusually cold spell last December, and Ross's Devon garden was covered in thick snow. ‘The birds were feeding at my bird feeder and were very tolerant of me. So I didn't need a hide to photograph them,' he says. ‘They had more to worry about than a human lying in the snow.' Ross stayed out for several hours at a time on each snowy day, and at one point noticed that there were up to eight robins in just one patch of the garden (some probably migrants from the Continent), which he notes must have been stressful for such a fiercely territorial bird. This individual is striking a warning pose, scattering snow in response to an approaching male. Ross captured the moment by setting his exposure meter so it wasn't fooled by the brightness of the snow and using a shutter speed fast enough to freeze the movement but slow enough to blur the motion of the scattering snow. Nikon D300 + 120-400mm lens at 400mm; 1/500 sec at f5.6; ISO 400.