Picture Perfect Puffins!
To celebrate puffin season, the Scottish Seabird Centre held a competition for the best photos of puffins – and these are the four stunning images which won.
A different winner was selected each week, with 150 images submitted over the 4-week competition, and it was up to award-winning photographer, Tom Langlands, to select each week’s winners: William Dickson (Kirkcaldy), Craig Newton (Edinburgh), Beverley Thain (Peterhead) and Neil Henderson (Cornwall).
The winning photos were selected by award-winning photographer, Tom Langlands. Specialising in nature and wildlife photography, Tom’s photos have appeared in numerous publications at home and abroad, and he revealed he was blown away by the high standard of entries submitted into the Scottish Seabird Centre competition.
‘All the contestants took great puffin pictures’
“It is wonderful to see so many amazing images of these ‘clowns of the sea’,” said Tom. “And not just because all the contestants took great puffin pictures but mainly because they got out there and saw the birds in their natural habitat.
“Puffins are a ‘red status’ bird in terms of conservation – this means that they are of greatest concern with numbers having declined rapidly in recent decades. Taking great images is a nice thing to do and it also has the added advantage of raising awareness of wildlife. It was a pleasure and an honour to see so many wonderful puffin images from a host of different places.”
‘How important it is that we look after this threatened species’
Tom Brock OBE, Chief Executive of the Scottish Seabird Centre, congratulated all the winners and commended contestants, adding: “Seeing everyone’s stunning images really reinforced how popular puffins really are and how important it is that we look after this threatened species for future generations.
“As a conservation and education charity, we focus on encouraging people to engage with nature in a fun yet sustainable way. Our visitors are able to control the interactive live cameras to see puffins in their natural habitat, with a further chance to see them on one of our boat trips.”
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- Pic Greg Macvean – 06/07/2014 – Isle of May / Scottish Seabird Centre boat trip
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- Craigleith Island – spot the puffin!
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- Beverley Thain’s winning puffin photo. Pic courtesy of Scottish Seabird Centre
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- Neil Henderson’s winning puffin photo
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- Craig Newton’s winning puffin photo. Pic courtesy of Scottish Seabird Centre
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- William Dickson’s winning puffin photo. Pic courtesy of Scottish Seabird Centre
Scottish Seabird Centre
- The Scottish Seabird Centre is an independent visitor attraction as well as a conservation and education charity dedicated to inspiring people to enjoy, learn about and look after our wildlife and natural environment.
- Follow the Scottish Seabird Centre on Facebook/ScottishSeabirdCentre. Twitter @SeabirdCentre and Instagram @seabirdcentre
- For more information on the Scottish Seabird Centre visit www.seabird.org
