Mammal Photographer of the Year Winners 2020 Announced

The winning and highly commended photographs of this year’s Mammal Photographer of the Year competition – run by The Mammal Society – have been announced.

The winning shot was taken by amateur photographer Roger Cox, when a fox decided the best vantage point into his car was straight through the windscreen.

The Mammal Society “is a charity advocating science-led mammal conservation, leading efforts to collect and share information on mammals, encourage research to learn more about their ecology, distribution and contribute meaningfully to efforts to conserve them.”

Part of this is through photographic education – helping the wider public fall in love with these incredible animals through recognition of intimate portraits of their wild lives.

Cox told the Society of his stunning image “Foxhall Zafira”:

“This animal often foraged for the wild cherries that fell from the trees and landed in the wells between the bonnets and windscreens of parked cars. It was also used to getting food from people who threw food out of their car windows at night during the early hours. I took this picture… when it jumped up on my car to investigate if there was anything of interest for it, as I’d seen it do several times before.”

“Shooting photographs through the windscreen of the car is tricky given the angle of the glass but with a fox so close it helps keep the viewer focused on this encounter,” said this year’s Head Judge, ecologist and professional photographer Brett Lewis. “Sometimes photographs like these get overlooked when we return home and look through them on the big screen and many never make it as far as competition entries but Roger made a bold choice and the rewards are deserved.”