Wild shots: Celebrating UK mammals at Swansea University
Blog written by Molly Venton - Team lead for SUCES
Through the University Mammal Challenge (UMAC), we were inspired by two key events in the calendar - the ‘Smashing Stereotypes’ campaign for British Science Week and Mammal Art Week, which both shined a light on the diversity of science careers. This sparked the idea to launch our own photography and art competition to raise awareness for British mammals and the creative side of science.
We wanted the competition to run for the duration of the UMAC to give participants time to get creative and encourage more entries, this also allowed us to keep the momentum going throughout the challenge and build excitement within our community. We timed the final announcement of the winners to coincide with National Mammal Week, giving us the perfect opportunity to celebrate UK mammals and the amazing submissions we received!
To increase accessibility to the competition we decided the only entry requirements were that it was an original piece of art that depicted a British mammal species, we had sixteen entries by time the competition concluded and the SUCES team chose three winners.
The first place winner, Matt Mears (@mattmears_wildlife), captured a powerful image of a red stag standing proudly among tall grasses. A truly majestic representation of British rewilding efforts.
The winning entry titled ‘King of the re-wild’ by Matt Mears (@mattmears_wildlife).
Matt also shared the story behind how he captured this incredible moment: ‘During a day of exploring the amazing reserve of Knepp (a pioneering UK rewilding site), a rustle heard from the scrub was followed by the emergence of this magnificent red deer (Cervus elpahus). I naturally expected it to flee, all but a bobbing white rump to be seen through my lens before I could get a good image. But this stag was stoic. A confidence backed up by a huge set of antlers. A crown fit for the king of the wild’.
The second place entry was this amazing shot of a dog otter staring straight into the camera captured by James Warren (@james._warren). A rare moment with one of the UK’s most elusive mammals!
Second place entry titled ‘Eye to Eye’ by James Warren (@james._warren).
James provided us with some additional information stating ‘This photo was taken on the Shetland islands, it depicts a curious Dog Otter in one of the small lochs on the islands’.
The entry that came third place was an adorable grey squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) surrounded by greenery, a classic mammal perfectly captured by Daniel Beech.
Third place entry titled ‘Squirrel in the grass’ by Daniel Beech.
Head over to our instagram (@swansea_conservation) to see our #SmashingStereotypes campaign titled ‘Not all scientists wear lab coats’ and the winners of our photography and art competition receiving their prizes!