PICTURES of an owl in flight and a snow-covered Pendle Hill scooped the top prizes in a Forest of Bowland photo competition.

The Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) team shortlisted 10 photographers to receive prizes, all donated by businesses in the Forest of Bowland Sustainable Tourism Network, and the public then voted for their favourite images via the AONB website. Almost 1,700 votes were received, with the winning photo of a short-eared owl taken by Mark Harder, receiving more than 400 votes.

Mark received two nights at Laythams Holiday Lets Retreats as his prize, while runner up Paul Warrilow, with his shot of Pendle Hill, received a £100 Individual Inns voucher, donated by the Spread Eagle Inn at Sawley.

Mark said: "I’ve only recently taken up wildlife photography and I’m naturally drawn to this beautiful countryside which I find inspirational and good for the soul. With the recent lockdown, I had found the Forest of Bowland a source of therapy and taking photos of wildlife a way to expressing my artistic side.'

Runner-up Paul, added: "I really enjoy landscape photography and I am fortunate to be living in such a beautiful area as the Forest of Bowland. The varied landscapes in this area offer some wonderful opportunities to capture nature at her very best and having recently retired I have much more time on my hands to discover the area and take more images.

"I found out about the competition whilst browsing the Forest of Bowland website - I was looking for ideas as to where I might go to photograph some of its spectacular countryside - and a week or so later we had snowfall on the lovely Pendle Hill and so I went along at dawn to take the image that was entered for the competition."

The winners of the other prizes were:

Hannah Binns – winner of a virtual cheese tasting voucher, donated by the Courtyard Dairy; David Fish – winner of a Goosnargh Gin gift pack, donated by Goosnargh Gin; Duncan Singleton – winner of a seasonal giftbox, donated by the Rewilding at Patty's Barn; Dave Spellman – winner of afternoon tea for two, donated by Stirk House Hotel; Phillipe Hanford – winner of a £30 voucher for Gisburn Forest Hub, donated by Gisburn Forest Hub Café; Jane Ashall – winner of a Milking Parlour cheese, butter & biscuit hamper, donated by Cobden View Holiday Cottage, Sabden;Janice McCall – winner of a hand knitted scarf and hat, donated by Lancashire Farm Wools.

The prize-winning images can be viewed at: www.forestofbowland.com/photo-competition-winners-2021