Photographic winners

Above: .

Above: .

Above: .

After hours of deliberation, discussion and even the odd argument, the judges of the Wildfowl & Wetland Trust at Arundel can reveal this year’s winners of their photographic competition.

This year’s competition was split into three categories: General Photography, Digiscoping and Junior. The competition, sponsored by Nikon was an opportunity for all photographers to show just what the Wildfowl & Wetland Trust means to them. The judges were Sussex Life editor Jonathan Keeble and regional managing director Suzanne Heaven.

Matthew Kenny from Hayling Island scooped top prize in the Junior Photographer section with a beautiful close up of one of the centre’s swans. He said: "We really like Arundel. It has been a real favourite place for me and my brothers since we were very young. I had already sent in two pictures and this photo of the swan, called Swan Lake, was a last minute entry because we had visited Arundel with my grandparents at the end of the summer holidays. I had a pretty good idea of the type of picture I wanted to capture. I had tried before to catch the swans preening but had not had much success. This time I was really pleased at how much detail there was in the picture and I really liked the look of the swan's head against its body."

The digiscoping category was won by Wendy Rapley from Billingshurst with this delightful picture of a Tern. And the overall winner was also of a tern, this time taken by Ray Fowler from Sompting who managed to capture the bird coming into land – complete with dinner.

These local winners will now go through to the national competition and be put up against entries from Wildfowl & Wetland Trust centres from across the county. Final judging will be carried out by WWT Vice President Chris Packham, Tim Hunnable form Nikon UK and Marcus Hawkins from Digital Camera Magazine.

To see all the finalists, look out for Sussex Life’s November edition out on October 22.