Birds in my Garden

Good portrait of this night heron. Pin sharp with plenty of feather detail. For that reason it was commended, as herons are shy birds which are difficult to photograph as they often fly at the first sight of a camera. The photograph would have been improved if the light area in the top left hand corner had been darkened

Beautiful capture of this female sparrow. Catchlight in the eye and nicely blurred background. It is nice to see this bird visiting a feeder in the South East. They've stopped coming into my garden and I haven't seen one for a couple of years.

A lot of beautiful robins in this contest. This one stood out. Very sharp, no distracting background. Catchlight in his large eye. I say his, as only male robins sing. Looking at this image I can almost hear him singing.

This was a difficult contest to judge, so many excellent images, hence the number of commended images. However, I was struck by this image the first time I saw it. Beautiful blue sky for background with the two birds perfectly positioned, beaks not quite touching as the young bird is poised waiting to be fed, with the wings of the adult making a diagonal. The eyes are bright which is sometimes difficult to achieve with a dark coloured bird like a swallow. Excellent image and worthy winner.