By Shelley Topp
Photographers will have the chance to win some great prizes in the Pest Free Waimakariri nature photo competition over the summer holidays.
The competition aims to get people out and about in Waimakariri to showcase its many parks and reserves and the abundance of wildlife living there.
After the success of the inaugural competition last year, Pest Free Waimakariri ranger Richard Chambers said they wanted to hold another.
"Waimakariri has a great range of landscapes from the sea to mountain ranges behind," Chambers says.
"These hold a diversity of native wildlife - the common fantail to the less common braided river birds, butterflies and reptiles.
"We want to celebrate these and encourage people to spend time in the outdoors capturing this in photographs over the Christmas/New Year break."
There was also an abundance of native wildlife "living alongside us in our backyards", Chambers says.
"Where we live makes up a great habitat for some of our wildlife so this can also be captured in photographs for the competition.
"Last year we had some great closeup photos, especially of birds.
"This year we want to encourage photos which also show the environment where you photographed the bird or insect.
"This year the competition is being sponsored by the Waimakariri Biodiversity Trust, a charitable community trust providing information, education and resources to support the Waimakariri community in protecting, restoring, creating and sustainably managing indigenous biodiversity throughout the district."
The competition closes on January 31, with the winners set to be notified on February 9. It is supported again by Cameo Fine Arts.
- For more details go to the Pest Free Waimakariri website - pestfreewaimakariri.org/photo-comp
