PHOTOGRAPHER Rich Bunce has scooped a first place in this year's British Wildlife Photography Awards.

Prizes for top pictures were awarded in 14 categories, including ones that focus on the coasts, close-up images of the natural world, the same subject through the seasons, video, and a documentary series of photographs.

To mark the 10th year of the competition, and to help raise awareness of the coasts and the threats they are facing, the awards expanded the coast and marine category to include British and Irish coastlines within four separate categories: Wales, Scotland, England, and Northern Ireland and the Coast of Ireland.

The Ilkley photographer took top spot in Habitat: Brighter Skies on the Horizon (rock dove or feral pigeon).

Conservationist and presenter Mark Carwardine said: "With so many photographers scouring the globe for exotic megafauna, it's easy to forget how much wildlife we have in our own small and densely populated backyard."

He said the focus on coasts marked the 10th anniversary of the competition, with the UK and Ireland surrounded by some of the "richest seas in the world", but warned that people did a bad job of looking after them.

And he said he hoped the competition would inspire people to get involved and help protect wildlife, adding: "It really does need all the help we can get."