Territorial strut - Ross Hoddinott - Wildlife Photographer of the Year2011

2011: Animal Portraits - Highly Commended

Ross Hoddinott Enlarge image Territorial strut

Ross Hoddinott (UK)

Territorial strut

Southern Britain experienced an unusually cold spell last December, and Ross's Devon garden was covered in thick snow. 'The birds were feeding at my bird feeder and were very tolerant of me. So I didn't need a hide to photograph them,' he says. 'They had more to worry about than a human lying in the snow.' Ross stayed out for several hours at a time on each snowy day, and at one point noticed that there were up to eight robins in just one patch of the garden (some probably migrants from the Continent), which he notes must have been stressful for such a fiercely territorial bird. This individual is striking a warning pose, scattering snow in response to an approaching male. Ross captured the moment by setting his exposure meter so it wasn't fooled by the brightness of the snow and using a shutter speed fast enough to freeze the movement but slow enough to blur the motion of the scattering snow.

Nikon D300 + 120-400mm lens at 400mm; 1/500 sec at f5.6; ISO 400.

This photograph is available to buy as a print.