BRITAIN: A family of elephants, ankle- deep in the still waters of the Luangwa River in Zambia, stare at a strutting grey heron.
The image captivated the judges of the BG Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition and prompted them to give the overall award yesterday to Angie Scott (47), of Kenya. Hers was just one of 18,500 entries from photographers in over 35 countries to the annual competition, organised jointly by the BBC magazine BBC Wildlife and London's Natural History Museum.Scott's shot was described by the judges as technically outstanding. She hid beneath a bush to photograph the family and as a grey heron landed in front of them and the bird held the elephants' attention, Scott captured the moment.
Other pictures praised by the judges included, clockwise from left, a pair of brown pelicans dive-fishing in Sanibel Island, Florida, by Chris Gomersall; a red fox family in the UK, by Mark Hamblin; a pair of bottlenose dolphins surfing in Australia, by Gavin Parsons; and a brown bear with live salmon in Alaska, by Charles McRae.
An exhibition celebrating 19 years of wildlife photography, including these pictures, opens tomorrow at the museum and continues until May 5th 2003. Further details from: www.nhm.ac.uk/news or by phoning 0044-207-942 5000