Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2015

We had a delightful visit today to Nature in Art, Twigworth near Gloucester. There is always much going on here but today there was particular pleasure. Until March 13, this museum and gallery is playing host to the annual touring exhibition of  the Wildlife Photographer of the Year organised under the auspices of the Natural History Museum in London.

It was a feast of wonderfulness with 100 stunning photographs, representing the finalists in each of the competition categories. I'm sorry only one is included in this post, but, understandably, photography was not allowed in the gallery. The winning photos and details of the competition can be seen here and here.

All of the photographs were amazing and many will live long in the memory but I think my favourite of all was the one which won the Young Photographer of the Year award. Of male ruffs on the lek in the Norwegian Arctic, it was taken by Ondrej Pelánek, a 13 year old boy from the Czech Republic.

Photograph from here

I think this photograph appealed to me as much because of the passion of this young man for his craft and for nature as for the technical excellence and the beauty of the shot. His description of how he took this photo and details of his other amazing achievements are given on the gallery page. 

At the prospect of seeing and photographing the birds, he said 'I was so excited that I could not sleep'. With enthusiasm and skill like his, I somehow think this young man will go far ...