London wildlife photographers honoured

London photographers are featured in the Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition at the Natural History Museum.

The exhibition opens at the London museum on Friday 19th October and features 100 images of nature. It will then go on a worldwide tour.

Caught in the act

Hannah Bedford from Hertfordshire

Commended

"There was a commotion in the garden, says Hannah, and this was what was causing it. The fox had killed all four hens in the chicken run and was in the process of eating one of them. I loved seeing a fox so close but we don't keep chickens anymore."

Hannah dashed in to get her camera, and caught the fox still on top of the hen house, mouth full of feathers, frozen in fear at seeing the family of humans.

City Gull

Eve Tucker

Surrey

Some of the tallest buildings in London surround the docklands at the heart of the business and financial district of Canary Wharf.

As Eve walked along the wharf, a bird caught her eye. It was a black-headed gull, of which there are many in the city.

But this one was resting on a very remarkable area of water. Eve realised that she was looking at reflections of the straight lines of the nearby office block, distorted into moving swirls.

The effect was so unusual - it gave a beautiful setting for an urban wildlife image. Like all true photographers, Eve had noticed what others most often fail to see, even when its right in front of them.

Snow pounce

Richard Peters from Hayes, Middlesex

Commended

Richard sat in his car and from a distance watched the fox hunting, just enjoying the performance. He was in Yellowstone National Park, in Wyoming, USA, and there was snow on the ground.

The fox was listening for rodents under the snow, then leaping high to pounce down on the unsuspecting prey. It was too far away to photograph, and so when it disappeared and suddenly reappeared, on a snow bank level with the car window, Richard was taken by surprise.

Bittern in winter

Oscar Dewhurst from Chiswick

Commended

One of Oscar's favourite photographic subjects is the bittern. And one of his favourite places to photograph it is at the London Wetland Centre, where several of these secretive herons usually overwinter in the reedbeds.

They tend to stay tucked among the reeds, searching for fish at the waters edge and are notoriously well camouflaged and shy. But when the water freezes, they are sometimes forced out onto the ice to look for food. During the very cold winter of 2010, says Oscar, there were seven bitterns at the site.

He explains how he was in the public hide, photographing a bittern close by, when a blizzard started. He was just about to pack up and leave when he saw another bittern suddenly set off across the ice. The image ended up being his favourite shot of the day.

Blood donation

Joshua Burch from Carshalton

Specially Commended

The dragonflies were not cooperating. Joshua had borrowed his dad's macro lens and sat down by the pond in his garden in Surrey to photograph them, but they just were not staying still for long enough. Then a very willing subject appeared. Joshua took the shot one-handed.

Now in its 48th year, the competition attracted more than 48,000 entries from 98 countries. The two winning images Bubble-jetting emperors and Flight paths were selected from 18 individual category winners.

The winners were judged by a panel of industry-recognised professionals.

The images, submitted by professional and amateur photographers alike, were selected for their creativity, artistry and technical complexity.

Features 100 images, chosen from 48,000 entries from 98 countries. UK has done better than ever before - with several winning photos in both young and adult categories