Finalist in the British Wildlife Photography Awards (BWPA)

I was really excited to have had one of my images chosen as a shortlisted finalist in the British Wildlife Photography Awards (BWPA).

It was an unusual image that I’d spent a long time trying to capture. In the field where I graze my horses each year a pair of moorhens nest. The nest is in a shallow pond that dries out completely in the summer and has a mass of twisted tree trunks providing great shelter and hiding places for the young chicks. Wonderful for their safety and survival but not so great for trying to take pictures of the tiny darting black balls of fluff. Made even trickier when my horses decided to be nosey and try and assist with the photography.

After several days of trying and aware the chicks were becoming more active and starting to venture further from the nest and out into the long grass of the neighbouring meadow after their foraging parents. I finally caught this image. The chick paused momentarily in the gap between the branches, a moments indecision as he spotted the horses moving nearby  and dithered about which way to go. It gave me the perfect frame of a for once stationary chick, with the light glinting brilliantly off his eye.