If ever there were a picture that summed up how we feel about 2020, it’s the winning shot from this year’s Comedy Wildlife Photography awards.
Mark Fitzpatrick bagged the crown at this year’s awards with his artful underwater photo of a grumpy-looking turtle appearing to flip the bird.
In Hungary, Kranitz Roland spotted a squirrel-like creature standing up, clutching its tiny hands together, as if ready to belt out an opera number.
His photo – titled O sole mio – won the Affinity People’s Choice award. 14/10 would go and see this little fella perform at the Royal Albert Hall.
The best photo in the ‘creatures of the land’ awards category was of this racoon who was snapped by Charlie Davidson as it woke up and stretched its legs. An unfortunate angle if ever we saw one.
Other commended photos in the series include a shot of two southern elephant seals cosying up to each other in Patagonia, South America, photographed by Luis Burgueño.
The one eyes up their (rather drunk-looking) companion suspiciously, which gave Burgueño inspiration for the photo’s title: “I had to stay late at work.”
Petr Sochman spotted two rose-ringed parakeets in Kaudulla national park, Sri Lanka, using their feet to clean each other’s beaks. Sochman said this particular photo – which looks like the male is asking the female to stay back – was “asking to be taken out of context”.
Of course, he titled it: ‘Social distance, please!’
Photographer Arthur Telle Thiemann shot this happy chappy under water in the Canary Islands. He says: “Among a group of parrot fish I saw this one, with a crooked mouth, looking like it was smiling. I concentrated on it, and it took me several minutes until I got this frontal shot... and yes, it made my day."
Megan Lorenz captured this, ahem, intimate shot while on a trip to Borneo: “I had many opportunities to watch monkeys interacting with each other. These Pig-Tailed Macaques showed me a bit more than I bargained for! Don’t blame me... I just take the photos, I can’t control the wildlife! So many titles came to mind for this photo but I went with the safe ‘family-friendly’ option and called it Monkey Business.”
Sue Hollis was exploring the Galapagos Islands when she noticed a sea lion enjoying a moment of serenity. “We were surprised to see that Sea Lions actively practice Yoga. Guess they need to get their Zen as well,” she says.
This incredible photo was taken on UK soil, in Scotland. Krisztina Scheeff, who took the masterful shot, says: “Atlantic Puffins are amazing flyers and their fishing talents are, well, as you see some do better than others! I just love the second Puffin’s look: can I just have one please?”
Yevhen Samuchenko spotted a group of langurs lounging around on some bikes in the small town of Hampi, India, and he couldn’t not get a snap of them.
Here they are, looking like a group of bikers on a weekend meet.
Sally Lloyd-Jones spotted a naughty kingfisher flagrantly breaking the rules. “I was hoping a kingfisher would land on the ‘No Fishing’ sign but I was over the moon when it landed for several seconds with a fish,” she says. “It then flew off with its catch. It appeared to be mocking the person who erected the sign!”