Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2009

I visited the exhibition of the selected photographs from this competition at Natural History Museum in London last week. The quality of photographs and range of prizes was most impressive.

My particular preferences were:

- Clash of yellowhammers by Fergus Gill

The composition is superb with a yellowhammer in flight in the upper left of the frame attacking another yellowhammer perched on a plant in the lower right with its wings extended in alarm. Both birds are looking at one another.

- Starling wave by Danny Green

This is an extraordinary black and white photograph of a huge flock of starlings. The photographer used a long exposure time so that the flock forms a wave passing over the silhouettes of two trees. Visually, the lines of the birds in flight are like pencil shading.

- Big fjord, little auks by Carsten Egevang

This is another photograph where composition plays an important role. In this case, the white cliffs of the fjord in the top third of the frame float above a misty sea. The flock of auks form black dots in the foreground standing out against the mist. The fjord appears light and cloudlike despite its massive bulk. The flock of birds form a similar ephemeral shape in the bottom half of the frame.

- Puffin in the snow by Jan Vermeer

The puffin flies head on towards the viewer just off centre in a grey blizzard background.

- Footprints by Robert Friel

I liked the wry humor in the way the juvenile penguin is examining the human footprints in the sand. This cleverly conveys the question of human impact.