No grouse as Scot’s photograph is highly commended

A SHOT of a red grouse foraging in Scotland has been highly commended in the Veolia Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition.

Ron McCombe’s picture of the red grouse in the snow in the Scottish Borders was highly recommended in the “behaviour: birds” category of the contest

The photographer, from Berwickshire, said three weeks of snow had forced the grouse down from the high moors, but conditions were not much better lower down, and he caught a shot of a female grouse feeding from heather in the snow.

“She had to stand on tiptoe to pick the seeds at the top of the heather,” he said. “It looked so elegant, even though the situation was so harsh.”

Other winning shots included flamingos on the shores of Lake Nakuru, a gorilla in Rwanda and a robin in last winter’s snow.