Photographer is wild about penguins (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Photographer is wild about penguins

A WILDLIFE photographer from Marlborough has been highly commended in a national competition.

The work of Andy Rouse from Marlborough has been recognised in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year and his winning images will appear in an exhibition in the Natural History Museum.

His picture, Surfing Gentoo was highly commended in the Animal Behaviour: Birds category in this year's competition and shows the penguin riding a wave in the seas off the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic.

The picture was selected from more than 16,500 entries.

Mr Rouse said: "The penguins looked so funny, especially the few that landed on their backsides, that I spent half my time smiling or laughing.

"It made it almost impossible to take photos and in the end, I had to put my camera down and just enjoy the show."

Mr Rouse's picture will be among 84 winning photographs from the 2005 competition.

The exhibition opens to visitors in London at the Natural History Museum on Saturday October 22 and runs until April 23 2006.

It will then tour across the country and five continents.