Swooping to conquer: Dramatic shot of a gull diving into a lake in the running for wildlife photo competition

December 30th, 2011

FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda

By
Charles Walford

Last updated at 7:25 PM on 29th December 2011

A flock of flying black and white Barnacle Geese, an inquisitive duck staring straight at the camera, a gull scratching its leg and a fluffy black-necked swan.

These stunning wildlife images are among the shortlist of the The Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust’s photograph of the year competition.

A gull diving head first into the water at London’s wetland centre helped Tom Hines win the ‘wetland wildlife’ category.

Dramatic moment: Tom Hines picked up first prize in the wetland wildlife category with this stunning shot of a gull diving to catch a tasty morsel

A beautiful sunset picture, taken by
Ian Cook was the winner of the ‘wetland landscape’ category at the
Washington centre in Tyne and Wear, while a close-up of a man’s and a
duck’s feet won Sally Sanford the ‘people and wildlife’ category at
Arundel centre in West Sussex.

Schoolboy Ben Cullen’s shot of a Shoveler duck looking down the lens won the ‘young photographer’ section at Slimbridge in Gloucestershire.

The category winners, who beat more than 2,500 entries in the autumn heat of the competition. will now go through to the competition final which will be judged next August once the winter, spring and summer heats are complete.

The remarkable shots have all been captured at the WWT’s nine wetland centres in the UK.

Bottoms up: This trio of ducks were so busy hunting for food they didn't realise photographer Richie Lort had them in his sights

Bottoms up: This trio of ducks were so busy hunting for food they didn’t realise photographer Richie Lort had them in his sights

Reflective moment: A gull glides across the surface of a lake in Llanelli, photographed by Wayne Davies

And the organisers want to raise awareness of the threat to the UK’s 2000 hectares of wetlands, which are home to around 200,000 waterbirds.

Ducks and dragonflies, grebes and gulls and swans and otters live side by side in Britain’s fast-disappearing wetland reserves.

WHY WE MUST PROTECT WETLANDS

A wetland is any area of land which holds a high amount of moisture, either all year-round or seasonally.

The description covers a vast range of
places, found from the Equator to the Poles, including saltwater swamps,
flood plains, lakes, fens, meadows and ponds.

The world’s largest wetland is the
Pantanal in South America which covers around 57,915 square miles;
the smallest may be a periodically damp patch in someone’s lawn.

Wetlands are essential to life on Earth.
They not only store and clean our water, they protect against floods
and nurture an enormous variety of life-forms, without which the planet –
and its people – could not survive.

In winter they are joined by thousands of migratory birds.

Martin Spray, chief executive of the
WWT, said: ‘Wetlands are extraordinarily beautiful and the UK has some
of the world’s best wetland sites.

‘The quality of entries in the latest
heat has been outstanding this year and the competition encourages
people to get really close to some fantastic wildlife.

‘Waterbirds are some of our most elegant and colourful animals and are also very photogenic.’

He added: “In the last millennium about
90 per cent of UK wetlands have disappeared and in the last 100 years 20
ponds a day were destroyed.

‘All around the world, wetlands are being lost or damaged more rapidly than any other ecosystem.

‘In the last 100 years, the amount of inland wetland alone has halved – because of land reclamation, changes to agriculture, pollution, water diversions and other developments.

‘Such losses are catastrophic for wildlife. Scientists blame them for pushing a third of all amphibians, 15 per cent of water birds, over 40 per cent of reptiles, 30 per cent of mammals and 6 per cent of fish species close to extinction.’

Photographers can now enter the contest’s winter heat by uploading wetland pictures at www.wwwt.org.uk/photo until Feb 29, 2012.

Here’s what other readers have said. Why not add your thoughts,
or debate this issue live on our message boards.

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Brilliant, Any chance of publishing details? A.S.A. Aperture, Lens, Shutter speed, Camera, etc. Would be of great interest.

– aubrey Leigh, london England, 30/12/2011 00:38

Photoshop at its best.
– Frank, Dublin, 29/12/2011 20:10
You’re an idiot, Frank.

– MRA, Manchester, 29/12/2011 23:41

Absolutely fabulous photos! Is Frank, Dublin, the one who always posts the same comment for photos, ‘Photoshop at its best.’? Try a new line. Tired of this one.

– pat, eugene, oregon, 29/12/2011 22:39

WOW…….fantastic shots, its not often I get insanely jealous of other photographers, but I am right now !!!
By the way DM……thanks for the wallpaper for the computer 😉

– Charles, London, 29/12/2011 21:02

The image of the gull diving is stunning. Whether it is a product of the gull’s eye design or it is, as I visualise, concentration doesn’t matter. Tom has captured it perfectly. I’m not sure if he has Henri Cartier-Bresson’s ethos (the Decisive Moment) but, what a shot!!

– Bob Baillie, Hedge End, UK, 29/12/2011 20:51

Photoshop at its best.

– Frank, Dublin, 29/12/2011 20:10

DM, unprotected wetlands are disappearing. Wetland reserves are not. Excellent photography.

– Cotoneasterjay

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