A PHOTOGRAPHER from Rossendale has won a prestigious award in a national wildlife photography competition.

Loveclough's Lawrie Brailey, 22, won the top prize of an eight-day photography trip to Estonia in the annual Marwell Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition for his image of the magical moment between a female fox and her cub.

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After entering the charity's competition for the past four years, Mr Brailey said it was an incredible surprise to finally get his hands on the prize.

He said: "I think I've only just regained the power of speech. It was a rather large shock to win.

"For the past couple of years I've only been commended for my work, so it's just absolutely incredible and the trip to Estonia is an insane prize that's so much better than what you win in a lot of other competitions.

"I'm very much looking forward to seeing the country as I've never been before."

Mr Brailey, who attended the University of Southampton, won the Marwell Zoo Endangered category back in 2012 with an image of a tiger, but now focuses his lens on British wildlife.

After being introduced to photography by his dad, he started to bring wildlife into the picture when he began visiting the local zoo and taking photos.

From there, he said a love affair was born, and he was lucky enough to be able to capture a very special moment while taking a picture of a family of urban foxes.

Mr Brailey added: "The vixen just turned up with a mouthful of meat and amazingly only one of her cubs realised.

"He rushed over and jumped to take it out of her mouth and then ran off with it. I'm amazed the poor girl manages to eat anything with her cubs around."

Stuart Martin, photographer at the Southern Daily Echo, a sister paper of the Lancashire Telegraph, and competition judge, said: "This photo really is a wonderful moment that I'm sure would warm the hearts of anyone lucky enough to witness such an event."

Mr Brailey's prize was awarded to him by wildlife holiday specialists Wildlife Worldwide, who sponsored to the competition to the tune of £1,000 to help Marwell's conservation work with Grevy's zebras in Africa.