Rural Gateway photography competition .... I won first prize!

[rlchew]

Well at least first prize in the "Going Wild in Rural Scotland" theme

Here is the photo .... one of our rarest and most beautiful breeding birds .... the Red-necked Phalarope.



Here is the story .... Rare bird tops Going Wild photo competition

I have to be honest but it wasn't that hard to get this photo.

Well, it was .... in the sense of the cost and time of a car journey to Manchester, 2 trains to Inverness, a campervan, a 12 hour overnight ferry from Aberdeen, more campervan and finally inter-island ferries to reach Fetlar about 750 miles from home

The photo itself though was far easier than capturing some of the wildlife on my local patch here in Essex since Red-necked Phalaropes are extremely confiding and they will just wander up to within a few feet of you. Once the bird flew in and the rain stopped, the photo opportunity was starightforward.

It is still good to get a first prize though .

Richard

[ellen h]

Congratulations !!!!
ellen

[ron1863]

Congratulations, a nice shot of a bird I have never seen before.

[Ida]

Congratuations, Richard!

What a lovely photo - I like the ripples and the reflection. (And the bird's beautiful too, of course.)

I've never seen a phalarope either - and am not likely to either, given the amount of travelling it would involve!

But luckily you're not as lazy as me, or you wouldn't have taken this excellent pic.

[jennyb]

Congratulations, Richard. It's a great photo. Well done.

Jenny

[Wild-Woman]

Lovely photo. Well done Richard.

[DavyG]

Congrats, excellent photo and a well deserved prize.

Dave

[NickCantle]

Many congratulations Richard! What a fantastic achievement mate! Well done

[monkey]

Well done you must be really pleased and its well deserved. Personally I have never heard of this bird before but its lovely.
Congrats

Linda

[Bub-les]

Congratulations on the win
Not surprising really when you look at the photo .. its in a class of its own
Well done
Barbara