Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year winners

José Luis Rodríguez has been named Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2009, with his shot The Storybook Wolf, above.

When José Luis realized he had got the shot of his dreams – one that he had even sketched on paper – he couldn’t quite believe it. From the start, his fear had been that the wolves would be too wary. Iberian wolves have always been persecuted by people who see them as a threat to game and livestock (which they hunt when natural food is scarce) but also because of ignorance and superstition about the supposed danger they pose. Even though they have always lived close to humans, there are no verified incidences of them attacking people.

In Spain, the population of Iberian wolves – a subspecies of the grey wolf – is thought to number 1000-2000 in the north, with a few tiny, isolated populations in the south. José Luis risked a slow shutter-speed to reveal the moonlit sky and conjure up the atmosphere of the place.

He switched from using his Nikon D2X to a Hasselblad so he could get the exact framing that he had in mind. What José Luis hopes is that his picture, ‘showing the wolf’s great agility and strength’, will become an image that can be used to show just how beautiful the Iberian wolf is and how the Spanish can be proud to have such an emblematic animal.  

Hasselblad 503CW with a 6x6 Fujichrome backing + Planar 80mm lens; 1/30 sec at f11; ISO 50; purpose-made Ficap infrared camera trap.

© José Luis Rodríguez / Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2009

Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year  is owned by the Natural History Museum and BBC Wildlife Magazine. This year's winning photographs will be on display at the Natural History Museum from 23 October 2009 until 11 April 2010. Tickets for the exhibition cost £9 for adults, £4.50 for children and are free to members and patrons.

See more winning wildlife photos here…

Opportunist Snatch by Rob Palmer
Animal Behaviour: Birds - Winner

In January 2009, something strange happened at a cattle feedlot in Colorado. Rob noticed a group of bald eagles sitting in a large tree nearby. Usually, bald eagles hunt near water. Usually, they eat fish – but they are also opportunists. These ones had gathered to feed on starlings and red-winged blackbirds and would launch themselves out of the trees and chase the small birds up into the sky. In this case, the eagle (an immature) was successful, but often the small birds would out-fly their attackers. What was strange was the way some of the small birds would suddenly fly up in an erratic way, making themselves easy targets. What Rob suspects is that the cattle feed may have been treated with an avicide (a bird poison) that affected the birds’ nervous systems. But after two weeks, the odd behaviour of the small birds stopped, and within a few days, the bald eagles left.

Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III + Canon 500mm f/4 IS USM lens; 1/3200 sec at f/5; ISO 400.

© Rob Palmer / Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2009

Raindrop Refresher by András Mészáros
Animal Behaviour: All Other Animals - Winner

This is a category for photographs of animals that are not mammals or birds – in other words, the majority of animals on Earth. Most of them behave in ways that are seldom witnessed and little known or understood. So this category offers plenty of scope for fascinating behaviour.

After a summer shower, András headed off to his local forest to take photographs. He specializes in pictures taken around his home near Lake Velence in Hungary – in particular, close-ups. In a sunny glade, he noticed lots of red ants running up and down a flowering common mallow, feeding on the sugar secretions of aphids sucking from the buds. Here, one of the ants sips from a raindrop balanced on a mallow petal. ‘The beauty of macro photography,’ says András, ‘is the worlds it reveals – all the activity going on in miniature that you otherwise would never see.’  

Canon EOS 5D + Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 lens reversed + 2 sets of extension tubes + Canon EF 1.4x teleconverter; 1/200 sec at f/9; ISO 200; Gitzo 143 tripod + Manfrotto 469 Ball Head; Canon 420EX flash; beanbag

© András Mészáros / Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2009

Boto Water Polo by Kevin Schafer
Animal Behaviour: Mammals - Winner

Photographs in this category are chosen for their action and interest value as well as for their aesthetic appeal.

A pair of wild Amazon river dolphins, or botos, play with a floating macucu seed in a tributary of the Rio Negro in Amazonian Brazil.  In the tannin-rich water of silt and rotting vegetation they appear almost orange, though their actual colour ranges from grey to pink. ‘Often in the afternoon,’ says Kevin, ‘I noticed that they stopped feeding and took time to play with objects, sometimes picking them up and throwing them like a game of dolphin water polo.’  Some scientists believe that the players are male dolphins showing off to females. ‘I saw this behaviour many times,’ says Kevin, ‘but it took the construction of a floating platform above the river to be able to shoot the action from the right angle.’  

Nikon D3 + Nikkor 70-200mm lens; 1/320 sec at f/5.6; ISO 1000.

© Kevin Schafer / Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2009

Clash of the Yellowhammers by Fergus Gill
Veolia Environnement Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year - Young Overall Winner

The planning for this picture started in the summer, when Fergus collected sheaves of oats
from a local farmer specifically as winter food for the yellowhammers. One evening in February, hearing that snow was forecast for the next morning, Fergus set up his hide in the garden, hung out feeders and carefully positioned a sheaf of oats. ‘I woke early and got into the hide to wait. After a few hours, the garden was full of birds. At one point I counted 32 yellowhammers feeding on the ground.’ After another couple of hours, more snow fell and the yellowhammers began jumping up and feeding on the sheaf. ‘Every so often I would see a fight between two males over ownership of the oats,’ says Fergus, ‘but the spats were incredibly fast.’ This, however, was the event he decided to concentrate on. Two days later, Fergus got his shot, capturing both the clash and the composition he’d planned

Nikon D300 + Nikkor 200-400mm lens at 220mm; 1/1000 sec at f/5.6; ISO 500.

© Fergus Gill / Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2009

Visit our blogs section to read interviews with chair of the judging panel, Mark Carwardine and winners José Luis Rodríguez.and Fergus Gill.

Update: On 20 January 2010, the winning image by Jose Luis Rodriguez, was disqualified for breaking one of the key rules of the competition which states that animal models must not be used.