Rare dragonfly and bird photos in awards final

The photographer said it had taken a decade to perfect a technique for capturing dragonfly images

Photographs of dragonflies using a technique which has taken a decade to perfect have been shortlisted in the finals of a prestigious award.

Rare images of light refracting through the wings of birds taken by Andrew Fusek Peters have also made the final of the British Wildlife Photography Awards 2024.

The Shropshire-based professional said he was honoured to have six images shortlisted.

His work had been a "labour of love," he added.

An image of a dragonfly with the Milky Way in the background was shortlisted

An image of a blue tit with light refracting through its wings was taken in the photographer's back garden

One image of a dragonfly against the Milky Way, taken on the Long Mynd wildlife nature reserve, had taken eight years to get right, he explained.

"After all those years of trying I eventually got it right last year," he said.

The image was taken while "lying down in the bog getting bitten to death by midges," he added.

"But the time does pay off.

"I love to set myself problems and work out how to solve them."

The photographer captured a dragonfly with dew-soaked wings at the nature reserve

Other shortlisted images of birds photographed with rainbow wings were taken in his back garden.

"The light has to be at a certain angle, you have to be shooting into the light because if I was on the other side then all I would be getting was the first sunlight on the birds.

"There is literally about 15 minutes in the morning when the light is at the right angle."

This image of a pair of fighting siskins was also shortlisted

The photographer has published a book called Butterfly Safari - containing pictures of all the UK's native species.

He is now working on a book documenting garden wildlife including foxes, badgers and squirrels.

The photographer is working on a book documenting back garden wildlife

Foxes were among Mr Peters' new focus