Mateusz Piesiak's Image

Mateusz Piesiak (Poland) carefully considered camera angles to produce a series of intimate photographs exploring the behaviour of birds.

Mateusz hid himself to watch as the dunlins worked their way through the tangle of rotting plants on the shoreline, picking out small crustaceans and insects with their probing beaks. Placing his remote camera on the mud of the reed bed, he seized the opportunity to capture the moment when a passing peregrine falcon caused some of the dunlins to take to the air.

This rich winter‑feeding area in Jastarnia, Poland is a refuelling spot for thousands of waders on their autumn migration route. Dunlins arrive here from many different Arctic locations on their way to winter in southern Europe and northwest Africa.