Bird reserve puts on display of winning wildlife pictures

The charity joined with Associated British Ports in March to launch the Humber Estuary Wildlife Photography Competition, which challenged amateur photographers to capture some of the varied wildlife in the area.

More than 100 entries were received and winners in three age categories were chosen by a panel of judges including Grimsby Labour MP Austin Mitchell, RSPB Birds magazine editor Mark Ward, and Tom Jeynes, sustainable development manager at ABP.

Winners are Colin Smale (over-18s category, photograph of black-tailed godwit); Jed Atkinson (13-17, robin); and Samantha Dalo (under-12s, mute swan and mallard).

They each receive £100 in Jessops vouchers and will have their work displayed, along with the best of the other entries, at the reserve from Sunday until the end of summer.

Mr Ward said: “I’m lucky enough to be able to feature the work of some of the best wildlife photographers in the world and I can honestly say that some of the photographs I judged would provide our professionals with some serious competition. It was great to see several tricky-to-photograph species captured.”

Mr Mitchell added: “I was particularly impressed with the work of the younger entrants. We oldies cannot rest on our laurels.”