BPOTY Inspirational Encounters Award
We are excited to share the shortlisted images from the Inspirational Encounters Award in Bird Photographer of the Year 2019. The judges were wowed by the range of entries, from encounters in the wilder corners of the UK, to the most remote regions of Planet Earth.
We loved the variety and diversity of the stories behind the fabulous images, from the electric blue of a common kingfisher, the serenity of a guillemot underwater and the parental devotion of the emperor penguin.
We hope the following imagery inspires you to enter the 2020 edition of the competition for your chance to win a £1,500 voucher you can put towards a holiday with Wildlife Worldwide or The Travelling Naturalist. In addition we will donate a further £1,500 to Birdfair to help with their annual conservation project.
Kingfisher Preening – Vince Burton, United Kingdom
“In the past I have spent a lot of time and driven many thousands of miles to photograph this beautiful bird. In the meantime, I have always been on the look-out for an opportunity to set up a hide and photograph a kingfisher of my own. I have walked miles of ideal habitat, fallen in various rivers during adventurous crossing attempts. And so often I've identified the perfect habitat and found resident kingfishers only for the opportunity to set up a hide to be turned down by the landowners. But after years of searching I finally found a pair of kingfishers on a local stretch of river less than a mile from my home. And even better, not only were the landowners happy for me to set up on their land, but they were interested in what was going on and welcomed updates about the pair. This was an opportunity to study the pair, learn about the behaviour through the different seasons, and share the experience with the landowners' children, educating them and encouraging them to enjoy and protect wildlife.
When setting up a hide, it has to be done carefully and over a period of time so as not to disturb your subject or scare it away. Being in the right place allows for perches to be slowly introduced and soon both adults were using these to fish from. Carefully a camera was introduced into the equation and the birds became used to the sound of the shutter.
To me there is nothing more rewarding than a subject choosing to be close to the hide and being so relaxed in your presence that it acts perfectly naturally. This image depicts one of those first of such encounters where the kingfisher decided to land outside the hide and just sit and preen itself. It is an honour to be accepted by and to be in such close proximity to such a beautiful bird. These encounters I treasure and shall never forget.”
Whio – Richard Sidey, New Zealand
“This was my first encounter with New Zealand's rare and iconic freshwater duck, the whio (to give its local name). Whio live on fast-flowing clean rivers, and are an indicator of the river's health. Due to habit loss and introduced pests their numbers have dropped to under 3,000 birds and it is rare to see one.
On this particular day I had spent several hours hiking the length of a remote valley on a hot summer's day, carrying a heavy camera and hoping to spot one. Nearing the end of my hike I took a swim in one of the beautiful deep river pools to cool off and dove deep to the bottom. When I surfaced moments later I almost collided with a whio: it was coming into ‘land’ on the pool I was in, landing gear out and arriving in at speed. We were both as surprised as each other, but the whio quickly relaxed and climbed onto a rock just metres from me. Slowly I swam to the river's edge where my camera was resting, collected it and returned into the middle of the river, neck deep. There I was able to take this intimate, low-angle portrait of one of our most treasured species. The encounter lasted several minutes and has personally reinforced in me the urgent need to protect our precious whio.”
Winner of the Inspirational Encounters Award
Emperors – Martin Grace, United Kingdom
‘Emperor. Penguin. Individually words of little distinction, but together an icon of near-mythical proportion. Flightless. The only bird that completely forgoes land. The march. The crazily dedicated parenting. Arguably the most difficult bird in the world to see. But forget for now the travel nightmare, the two days turbulent torture of the ‘never-again’ Drake Passage, the teetering on the edge of ‘will-we, won’t-we?’ Decades of aspiration are finally approaching a culmination. An unexpected route appears through storm-packed sea ice and Antarctica’s fickle summer opens a calm window of blue. This miraculous conspiracy permits no more than half an hour at the colony, including walking time from landing. Borrowed boots pinch, clothing is stiflingly excessive, and frustration also boils as the camera tangles inside the rucksack. But actually having made it is too overwhelming, too emotional. I shoot a few images then put the camera away, and for fifteen minutes it is just me, the Emperors and heaven.’
Be sure to enter the Inspirational Encounters Award before 30 November 2019, or take a look at our Wildlife Photography holidays to find your next subject.
