Rare dragonfly and bird photos in awards final

Photographs of dragonflies using a technique which has taken a decade to perfect have been shortlisted in the finals of a prestigious award.

Rare images of light refracting through the wings of birds taken by Andrew Fusek Peters have also made the final of the British Wildlife Photography Awards 2024.

The Shropshire-based professional said he was honoured to have six images shortlisted.

His work had been a "labour of love," he added.

One image of a dragonfly against the Milky Way, taken on the Long Mynd wildlife nature reserve, had taken eight years to get right, he explained.

"After all those years of trying I eventually got it right last year," he said.

The image was taken while "lying down in the bog getting bitten to death by midges," he added.

"But the time does pay off.

"I love to set myself problems and work out how to solve them."

Other shortlisted images of birds photographed with rainbow wings were taken in his back garden.

"The light has to be at a certain angle, you have to be shooting into the light because if I was on the other side then all I would be getting was the first sunlight on the birds.

"There is literally about 15 minutes in the morning when the light is at the right angle."

The photographer has published a book called Butterfly Safari - containing pictures of all the UK's native species.

He is now working on a book documenting garden wildlife including foxes, badgers and squirrels.

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