Joshua Brierley aged 14 from Lostock, Bolton, has won the WWT Martin Mere Wetland Centre Junior Photography Competition with an amazing picture of a whistling duck bathing in water.



The competition was judged by photographer Ben Cherry: ”It takes patience and persistence to get an image like this, to get all the motion of the whistling duck bathing in the water, while keeping the head sharp. This sharpness makes the image, magnifying all the excitement and motion. This was a very hard decision as there were plenty of brilliant images, from macro images of dragonflies and butterflies, to elegant avocets and excitable youngsters enjoying WWT wetland centre activities. Well done to everyone who entered and keep at it!”

The competition was open all summer with entrants uploading pictures to Flickr of their wildlife experiences at Martin Mere.

Ben Cherry is an internationally published and award winning environmental photojournalist, who has worked on projects like Flight of The Swans with the Wildfowl Wetlands Trust. Ben’s work highlights the beauty and fragility of nature, while also documenting the inspiring commitment of conservationists, showing that we can all do our bit for nature.

All junior entries will be on display at Martin Mere from Saturday 23 September to Sunday 5 November.