Final week to enter photos showcasing wildlife

The winning images will be displayed at the Manx Museum

A new photography competition aims to highlight "how lovely where we live is" and help people to appreciate and monitor the island's fauna and flora, its organiser has said.

Those taking part have under a week to send in their entries for the Wild Mann Nature Photography Competition.

Curator of natural history Laura McCoy said people on the island were "really lucky" to have "fairly easy" access to species that were "quite hard for a lot of people to see easily", including ravens and choughs, and peregrine falcon.

Hosted by Manx National Heritage, the contest would also be a way of keeping a record of the species on the island as "we're losing numbers at such a fast rate", she said.

Entries must be submitted by 4 March

Launched in the autumn, photographs entered in the competition are set to feature in a special exhibition at the Manx Museum from 26 April to coincide with Manx Wildlife Week, which runs from 27 April to 5 May.

All subjects photographed must be wild animals and plants and not domesticated or cultivated, and all entrants must interact “responsibly” with the wildlife and not cause any disturbance or damage.

The categories include plants and fungi

Ms McCoy said she also wanted to capture the enthusiasm of some photographers who may not have had the opportunity to display their work in a gallery.

She said: "We’ve got such great talent on the island.

"People have been so lucky but also skilful and patient to be able to just snap something which just takes your breath away."

The winning images will be displayed in an exhibition at the Manx Museum

Categories include mammals, birds, invertebrates and underwater, plants and fungi, and land and sea.

As well as classes for adults, there are three junior categories for those aged 10 and under, 11 to 14 years, and 15 to 17 years.