NATURE'S IMAGES AWARDS 2014

The results of the 2014 Melvita Nature's Images Awards have just been announced this morning and my recently published Berlin goshawk story and one of my urban fox pictures have both been awarded. The goshawk set (12 images) was a runner-up in the Man and Nature category and my fox in the Nature in the City category. A nice way to finish off 2014 and my best year so far in the major wildlife photography competitions with a total of 21 awarded images.

You can see all of the winners and runners-up on the competition website: www.natureimagesawards.com/palmares-2014

In unrelated news, my parakeet image has been included in the Daily Mail's "Most Amazing Photographs of 2014". View the full selection here.

BBC WILDLIFE MAGAZINE - URBAN GOSHAWK FEATURE PUBLISHED

The latest issue of BBC Wildlife Magazine (January 2015) hits the shelves on Monday and I'm excited to share that it's running my Berlin goshawk story. I've been working on this for some time now and it's been a bit of a journey from my first trip out to find them at the beginning of 2013. I've met lots of people working with goshawks and raptors along the way and some have become close friends. I took Ben Hoare, the features editor of Wildlife Mag out to Berlin with me this Summer to meet some of them, so that he could find out a bit more about the project and interview the people working with and monitoring the goshawks before writing the feature. 2015 is the "year of the Goshawk" in Germany, so it's a great time for it to be published and Ben has done a great job in telling the full story. Subscribers to the mag should have their copies already, but it officially goes on sale on Monday 22nd December so please go and check it out.

You can see more of my pictures from this project on my site: www.samhobson.co.uk/urban-goshawk

A web gallery is also being featured on the BBC Discover Wildlife Site: www.discoverwildlife.com/gallery/goshawks-berlin

The behind the scenes video on the Wildlife Mag Youtube Channel is here: http://youtu.be/d2tboE0fePw

Massive thanks to Norbert, Bea, Rainer, Olly, Manuela, Lutz, Felix and all the guys who helped me get the pictures and made it so much fun and big thanks to everyone at Wildlife Mag for making it happen!

GOSHAWK PICTURES USED FOR BIRD OF YEAR CAMPAIGN 2015

It has just been announced that the goshawk (der habicht) will be pronounced "Bird of the Year" for 2015 in Germany. I have been out to Berlin a number of times to photograph the urban population of goshawks, so I'm pleased that NABU will be using my pictures for their campaign. It's really great to see this often persecuted bird of prey being championed and and brought into public awareness. They are using one of my images for the poster and you can also download a brochure with loads of information (in German) and some of mine and my friends pictures here: http://www.nabu.de/aktionenundprojekte/vogeldesjahres/2015-habicht/17210.html

BBC URBAN GOSHAWK FEATURE UPDATE

Just been away for perhaps my last trip out to Berlin for a while to photograph urban goshawks. I went out there for the 4th time over 2 years last week to photograph my friend Norbert and his colleagues ringing nestlings. This time I took Ben Hoare, the features editor at BBC Wildlife Magazine to meet everyone and get involved. We had a great week sampling plenty of Berlin's bars and saw some great wildlife - not just goshawks, but urban wild boar too! Ben will be writing the feature and it should be published with my pictures later in the year.

The picture above is a frame from a timelapse sequence I set going on a camera attached to Norbert's head. Interesting to see things from his perspective!