Photo Competition

The 'OWLS' photographic competition brought out 105 fantastic pictures of local and British nature and thanks to the beautiful snow last winter, there were many sparkling views of Oxhill under a blanket of white. The judge, Suzanna McKail, commented on the high standard and had a tough time selecting the winners but eventually chose the local heron (Josh Cooper) because of the striking pose and great depth of field and a puffin with its catch of fish (Tricia Harbour) for the wider British nature category. Copies of the Oxhill 2011 calendar were their reward. Autumn leaves in St. Peter's churchyard (Alex Chick) won the children's section with 'Red blackberries' (Matthew Chick) coming second, their prize being an insect box to further their fascination with creepy-crawlies!

Josh says, "The heron landed on Mick Groves' fence about 6 pm one September evening and was eyeing-up the fish in his pond! I used a Nikon D200 digital SLR camera with a Sigma lens zoomed out to 500mm. The light wasn't great so I shot at ISO 800, aperture at f6.3 and shutter speed 1/250th of a second. I spot metered off the heron's grey neck for the exposure and focused on the eye. The wide aperture setting long zoom gave the blurred background". To get the superb clarity of the puffin, Tricia used a digital Canon 300D EOS with a 75–300 mm zoom lens set on Auto.

Runners up included photos of a misty morning in Oxhill (Jane Smith), a wonderful seascape at Whitesands Bay (Ruth Mercer), a corner of a wildflower meadow (Myrtle Knight ) and a robin pictured against a startling blue sky (Alice Mercer). Myrtle's grasshopper (taken while balancing on a kitchen stool at great risk to her personal safety!) was given a highly recommended.

A display of a small owl box and kestrel home (built by the OWL group's chippies!) and another from Warwickshire Wild Life Trust added to the exhibition along with a raffle (bat and robin box prizes donated by WWT) and 2011 Oxhill calendars (this year in A4 format) and new notelets.

Plans for next year's competition could include art work as well as photographs. So, if you can wield a paint brush, build a collage or be otherwise creative, start thinking about your 2011 entry! Once again we would like to thank Suzanna for giving up her time to judge the entries and the WWT for donating the raffle prizes.

Information about 'OWLS' and competition results can be found on their web-site (http://www.oxhill-owls.org.uk/Home.html) and the calendars and notelets can be bought from Grenville (680664) or any of the other team members. All money raised goes to biodiversity projects in Oxhill parish.

Jane Smith

This site is maintained by villagers of Oxhill for the benefit of the community and those interested in the history, news and activities that make the village such a pleasant place to live.

Send mail to the editor of the Oxhill News at news-editor @ oxhill.org.uk.

Last modified: November 14, 2010