Lady, 10, counseled in wildlife images awards

{A photograph} captured by a 10-year-old has been “highly commended” on this 12 months’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year competitors.

The competition acquired greater than 60,000 entries from around the globe, with Jamie Smart’s snap of a pink deer stag bellowing throughout an autumn rut being recognised within the prime 100 on the annual awards.

Named The Rutting Call, it was captured on a part of a two-day wildlife rutting season expedition at Bradgate Park in Leicestershire.

The younger snapper, from Llandrindod Wells, Powys, first picked up a digital camera on the age of six, saying she knew it was a superb one, however by no means anticipated world recognition.

The world-renowned competitors is in its 61st 12 months, and is developed and produced by the Natural History Museum, highlighting the distinctive and delightful relationship between images, science and artwork.

What started in 1965 as {a magazine} competitors with simply 361 entries has was one of many world’s most prestigious images awards, with over 60,000 entries annually and a touring exhibition seen by tens of millions across the globe.

No stranger to nationwide recognition, nonetheless, the gifted photographer turned the youngest ever winner of Biaza’s photographer awards in March 2025, for her picture of an rising gray reef shark, named “Out of the Blue”.

The journey into images all began together with her love of dinosaurs, Jamie mentioned, however when she found she had no probability of capturing these within the wild, she determined to attract her consideration to wildlife.

She first used her father James’ digital camera aged six, who’s a pastime photographer.

“I didn’t want to drop the camera at first,” mentioned Jamie, including she initially discovered it exhausting specializing in wildlife, as birds would fly away.

But now, her mother and father joke they merely want to come back alongside to hold the gear.

The counseled picture of the stag was captured whereas out filming with wildlife photographer Danny Green, which concerned “12-hour days, early mornings and late evenings”, Jamie mentioned.

As nicely as being a gifted photographer, Jamie has a wealth of information in relation to wildlife, which helps when capturing these award-winning photographs.

“It’s actually monarch stag, he has over 16 spikes on his antlers, which shows he’s a mature and strong stag,” she mentioned.

“A younger one came over the hill, it was running, bellowing. The stag was so tired, so he had to lay down.

“I laid down, however as I used to be simply 9, the grass was very lengthy and proper on his face, however when he bellowed, he lifted up his physique, and I used to be capable of seize it.”

Jamie said she thought it was a good one, as they rarely turn their head to look right at you, but the family never thought it would do quite so well.

Jamie’s mum Eleri said the competitions were of such a high standard and often unpredictable, but puts her success down to a lot of hard work.

Nature is what drives Jamie’s passion, Eleri said, and photography and nature marry well together.

The young snapper’s talent first received national attention when she won one of the categories at the RSPCA’s yearly photography competition in December 2023.

Her image of a Barnevelder cockerel, entitled Fighter, won first place for the category Pet Portraits, while three more of her snaps earned high praise.

Jamie documents her love for wildlife and photography to her 111,000 followers on Instagram, as well as speaking to animal experts on her podcast.

Her keen eye for wildlife has even seen her fly to the other side of the world to be alongside Robert Irwin in Australia, where she won two categories and saw 16 images shortlisted for display at Australia Zoo.

Now, Jamie is looking forward to heading to the awards in London on 14 October, and getting to have a look around the Natural History Museum.

Speaking of her end goal, she said had hopes to discover a new species entirely, but for the short-term, she is looking at taking on a new project to discover as much wildlife mid-Wales has to offer.