Nilo Merino Recalde (Spain) Tree in the mist
'Beneath the falls, clinging precariously to the rocks, was a tree with a spray of golden branches. The dull February light, fog and mist from the water added mystery to the scene. Scrambling down to get close to the waterfall, water splashed all over my equipment, and I ended up soaked.' The source of the River Asón in Cantabria, northern Spain, is a spectacular waterfall more than 50 metres high. It flows out of the limestone mountains, which are riddled with a complex system of caves. The area is also a nature reserve with native woodland.
Olympus E-500 + 14-54mm f3.5-5.6 Zuiko lens at 35mm; 1/15 sec at f10; ISO 100; circular polarizer filter; tripod.
Franklin Ramirez (Unknown) Eye to eye
'Clutching my camera, I wandered behind a building in Las Mangas, Honduras. My teacher had told me vine snakes often hang around there. I spotted this one, so slender and light it seemed to float across the vines growing up through the fences. I knew it wouldn't harm me and went for a close-up.' The blunt-headed vine snake is slender and delicate, active only at night and usually found in trees. It feeds mostly on anole lizards, finding its prey using its large eyes and sensitive tongue, which it flicks in and out to pick up airborne smells.
Canon Powershot A610; 1/200 sec at f2.8. This photograph is available to buy as a print.
Johan Gehrisch (Sweden) Snow bunting songster
'As this male in Svalbard made its territorial rounds, I waited, knowing the bird would return to its song-perch rock. I waited for more than three hours on two different days, and the bunting returned several times to the rock, each time giving a flawless performance.' Male snow buntings put on a big show to attract mates. Their normally rusty brown plumage wears down to a smart black and white breeding dress. They also find a special perch to sing songs and defend their territories vigorously. The snow bunting is the most northerly breeding songbird in the world and nests across Alaska, Greenland and Iceland. To keep their eggs warm in the icy conditions, they line their nests with fur and feathers.
Canon EOS 20D + 400mm f5.6 lens; 1/1600 sec at f5.6; ISO 400. This photograph is available to buy as a print.
Julian Das (United Kingdom) What's up?
'This young male in the Okavango Delta in Botswana climbed a low-hanging bough and started walking about on it. Then curiosity got the better of it, and it decided to watch me through a gap between the two trunks of the tree. It was really funny seeing a lion behaving like this.' Lions are the most sociable of all cats. Prides have up to 10 females, three males and dependent cubs. They usually hunt on their own, mainly at night. But sometimes they ambush prey at drinking holes during the day, or hunt in a group if prey is scarce. Lionesses do most of the hunting while males roam around and defend territory. Most lions live in Africa though a few remain in India.
Canon EOS Rebel XT + Tamron 75-300mm lens at 200mm; 1/200 sec at f5; ISO 100. This photograph is available to buy as a print.
Ten years and underWinner: Alessandro Oggioni (Italy) Snow pose
'I was skiing in the Gran Paradiso National Park in Italy when I spotted this fox looking at me from a tree. I took off my skis and tried to take a photograph, but it climbed down and wandered off. I took many photos, but I like this one because it has everything - the landscape, the fox, the fox tracks, the shadow of the fox and the tree, all together.' The red fox is the most widespread of all fox species, ranging throughout the whole northern hemisphere. They are sometimes found in even colder places than Arctic foxes, but because they are bigger they need more food, which is why they can't survive in the food sparse Arctic.
Nikon D70 + 18-70mm f3.5-4.5 lens at 70mm; 1/800 sec at f9; ISO 200.
Baptiste Drouet (France) Great tits and teasels
'I asked my father to put his camera on the tripod at our home in La Chapelle Saint Florent, France, and I stayed hidden behind the kitchen window that I had meticulously cleaned. My father told me, be patient look carefully and when you see something you like, press the shutter. I spent all afternoon pressing the shutter, stopping only when dusk fell and there were no more birds to photograph. It was exciting.' Great tits are a woodland bird found across Europe and Asia, but many have adapted to urban gardens. In rural areas they eat insects, but urban populations supplement their diet with bird seed put out by humans. Tits can be aggressive at bird tables, fighting off other smaller birds.
Canon EOS 350D + Canon 70-200mm lens; 1/1400 sec at f5.6; ISO 200; Manfrotto tripod. This photograph is available to buy as a print.
Mimmi Widstrand (Sweden) Gull perfection
'I was on a sea eagle safari on the Norwegian west coast with my family. The skipper was hurling fish into the sea, and local sea eagles were flying in to feed - majestic, graceful, silent and invited, unlike the rowdy gate-crashing herring gulls.' Herring gulls are also known as silver back or silvery gulls in other languages, because of their silver-grey back and wings. Widespread throughout the northern hemisphere, they are opportunists, feeding on discarded fish offal, refuse, bird chicks, mammals, eggs and worms. They also eat hard-shelled molluscs, which they carry into the air and then drop on land to break the shells.
Nikon D2xs + 70-200mm f2.8 VR Nikkor lens; 1/1250 sec at f5 (-1 compensation); ISO 200.
Brittany Fried (United States) Treetop jigsaw
'I took this photo at the Forest Reserve Institute of Malaysia outside Kuala Lumpur. Looking at the forest canopy, I was intrigued that something as simple as treetops could look as beautiful. They slotted together like a jigsaw and the thought of a giant puzzle made me think how amazing Earth is and how small humans are.' Teaks are tropical hardwood trees and their timber is used for making furniture and flooring. When a teak rainforest is old enough, the high, dense canopy cuts out daylight, and only a few plants can survive on the darkened floor beneath. Three quarters of Malaysia's land is forested, and about two thirds of that is virgin rainforest.
Nikon Coolpix S9. This photograph is available to buy as a print.
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