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Bright as a feather: Stunning shots of birds in action for RSPB photo contest

These amazing images show the sheer majesty of the world’s most beautiful birds.

But the winner of the Society of International Nature and Wildlife Photographers Bird Photographer of the Year 2020 took their picture in Britain.

The competition, in aid of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), received entries from across the globe.

However, the winner, Ravi Parvatharaju, 58, from Woodford Green, London, took his photo of a kingfisher feeding its two chicks at RSPB Rye Meads nature reserve in Hertfordshire.

Parvatharaju, a consultant neonatologist at Homerton Hospital in East London, said: "The kingfisher chicks had fledged that morning and were mostly hidden in the bushes and their parents were taking fish to them.

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"Suddenly, two came out of the bushes and landed on a perch in front of me. I had started taking pictures when to my surprise and joy, the adult male, their father, landed on the same perch between his babies with a fish.

"Both the chicks started opening their mouths wanting to be fed. I got this picture as he was passing the fish into the mouth of one of the babies and the other chick had its mouth still open.

"It was, and remains to this day, truly a moment of magic for me and an unforgettable wildlife experience which I cherish."

The other photos to be recognised in the competition included a lone penguin in the Falklands surrounded by chicks and two camouflaged nightjars on the forest floor in Madagascar.

The Judge’s Choice award was won by British photographer Kevin Nash, 55, a company director from Warrington, Cheshire, who took a picture of a vulture with wings outstretched being chased by a jackal at the Zimanga Game Reserve in South Africa.

The competition raised more than £2,000 for the RSPB.