Our first Bird Watching Bird Photo of the Year 2011 competition has a winner… and what an image to kick off this annual contest.
When we launched this competition, we hoped to see some inspiring bird images – great photos taken by real birdwatchers which really said something about the essence of birdwatching. We weren't disappointed.
You sent us a quality and variety of images which stopped the judges in their tracks. What ensued was hours of head-scratching as they pored over the best of them to decide our winners. We hope you agree that they are fantastic shots.
Overall winner and Birds in Reserves category winner
Stonechat by Marek Szczepanek
Marek wins a Nikon D3100 with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR lens and Nikon Golia SLR Bag & a pair of Nikon 12x25 CF Travelite V Binoculars
Birds in Britain category winner
Cuckoo by Richard Steel
Richard wins a pair of Nikon 12x25 CF Travelite V Binoculars
Digiscoped Birds category winner
Waxwing by Michael Davenport
Michael wins a pair of Nikon 12x25 CF Travelite V Binoculars
Migration category winner
Black-tailed Godwits by John Lewis
John wins a Nikon Coolpix S3100 with S-series soft camera pouch and Nikon 4GB SD card
Garden/Urban Birds category winner
Peregrine Falcon by Keith Edmunds
Keith wins a Nikon Coolpix S3100 with S-series soft camera pouch and Nikon 4GB SD card
Highly commended images
There aren't any prizes for commended images, but the judges were so impressed with the quality of the photographs that we decided to showcase a selected few of our favourites. As you will see, it wasn't easy selecting our winners. Click on the thumbnails to see the image.
Our Sponsors
Bird Watching would like to thank Park Cameras and Nikon for supporting Bird Watching's Bird Photo of the Year competition
2011 represents a significant milestone at Park Cameras as we celebrate 40 years of trading within the photographic industry. Established in 1971 by Managing Director Reg Atkins, Park Cameras, based in Sussex, has grown beyond all recognition without forgetting three founding principles – unrivalled customer service, competitive pricing and choice. www.ParkCameras.com and you won’t be disappointed.
Nikon UK is delighted to be working with Park Cameras and Bird Watching to offer these prizes. Nikon offers a market-leading range of binocular and scope products, from compact binoculars to some of the finest optics available in the award-winning EDG range of binoculars and scopes. The Nikon range also offers the ability to attach a Nikon camera to a scope so you can create high-quality digiscoped images. Park Cameras, a Nikon Binocular Specialist dealer, stocks the Nikon range of binoculars and scopes along with the relevant accessories to set up full digiscoping kits.
