FORMER council officer and fell runner Andy Holden has won a top prize in a photographic competition organised by the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust.

His picture, entitled Cotton Tops, took top honours in the wild places section.

Andy, who lives in Hellifield, often gets inspiration from running in the uplands of Craven as a member of Wharfedale Harriers.

One of his previous pictures, of a stoat dashing into a dry stone wall, was included in the BBC's 2013 Countryfile calendar.

In the latest competition, Andy, who was a Craven District Council pest control officer for 30 years, faced competition from around 700 entries.

Five finalists were selected for each of the four categories - the others were wildlife, wildlife watch (under 15) and Smartphone - and these were then subjected to a public vote to decide first and second place.

The winners won a nature tour from Yorkshire Coast Nature and the runners-up received a subscription to Outdoor Photography magazine.

Joanna Richards, organiser from Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, said: “We had a fantastic time sifting through all the wonderful images.

"With so many to choose from it was incredibly difficult to whittle each category down to five images only. But really the hard work was done by members of the public who had the unenviable task of picking one photo in each category. A remarkable 2,539 votes were received."

The results were: wild places, winner - Andy Holden (cotton tops); runner-up - Yasmin Hussain (Brimham Rocks); wildlife, winner - Mark Ellison (launch - red squirrel); runner-up - Stephen Jones (hovering barn owl); Smartphone, winner - Maggie Bruce (feeding mallards); runner-up - Amy Farrington (common blue); wildlife watch, winner - Liam Constantine (baby swallows); runner-up - Jamie Kirk (emerald damselfly).

The competition will be run again next year, with entries opening on December 1 and closing on January 31. Details will be released later in the year on the trust's website ywt.org.uk