Natural talent

Jun 27 2008 by Alison Anderson, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

A STUNNING prize-winning photograph by Perthshire teenager Fergus Gill is being exhibited at the National Museum of Rural Life, Kittochside, East Kilbride.

The photograph of a sparrowhawk on the lookout won Fergus top spot in the 11-14-year-old category of the Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2007 competition.

The exhibition in the National Museum of Rural Life showcases the winning and highly commended images from the 2007 Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition which each year attracts more than 20,000 entries from leading nature photographers of all ages from across the globe.

The beautiful image of the sparrowhawk by Fergus is one of 100 stunning wildlife pictures in this special exhibition which opened last weekend and continues until September 14.

The exhibition includes a herd of stampeding zebra in the Serengeti, South African fox cubs at play, the glare of a long-eared owl amidst some French rose bushes, a yawning lion in South Africa’s Madikwe Game reserve and the largest colony of penguins in Antarctica.

Fergus, who is now 16, took the picture of the raptor in March last year from a hide he built in the back garden of his home in Wolfhill.

“I never expected to get placed, let alone win, in such a massive competition as this,” said Perth-born Fergus, a pupil at Perth Academy.

This year Fergus’s interest in photography has taken a back seat to studying for exams.

The exhibition is touring throughout 2008, with worldwide destinations including Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the USA.