A picturesque winter squirrel is named a winner of our Winter Photography Competition.
We launched our Winter Photo Competition to get our residents out capturing wildlife, stunning landscapes, or animals this festive season.
Hannah Jenkyn, from St Ives in Cornwall, entered with a brown squirrel eating a nut after taking it when her and her mum attended an event at a local deaf centre.
Hannah had meningitis when she was just three years old so is profoundly deaf after losing her hearing. She went to visit the Cornwall Deaf Community Centre in Camborne the day before entering the competition to get to know them as they were doing a wreath making class and saw the perfect opportunity to capture the little furry creature.
Hannah Jenkyn, 34, said: “We got chatting to a lady at the centre and she said come and visit the deaf church as they were doing a bit of abstract art and having a look at the gallery and museum at Penlee House in Penzance.
“So, we went down, and we were sat in the car where I saw the squirrel in the perfect position to take a picture. When I saw the squirrel, it was almost like he was posing for me. He had a nut in his month, so it was the perfect circumstance, and the weather was frosty and cold.
“Then that night, I saw LiveWest’s post on social media about the competition so I thought of that picture to enter that it would be lovely.”
“If you really look and listen, there's so many beautiful things going on around you all the time. So, no matter how glum things are, there is nature's blessings and beauty all around us. It's really hard to see that when you're feeling low, but I try.
“A little message would be no matter how hard life is there is beauty everywhere, just look for it.”
Hannah is thrilled to have won the competition and thanks LiveWest for making the picture that extra bit special for her.
Hannah added: “It's a great competition by LiveWest as it's a little bit of fun. I didn't for one minute think anyone would be interested in the photo to be honest, I just liked it myself. LiveWest is a huge organisation and it’s got thousands of customers so it's a great way to get everyone involved together.”
Leanda Flower, our Community Investment Manager, said: “As the frosty mornings and dark evenings settle in, people may feel like staying in during the winter months. We hope this competition encouraged people to get outdoors and spend more time connecting to nature or sharing a winter walk.
“It was fantastic to see the range of photos, it made the judging difficult as we had such a great variety of winter photos so thank you to everyone who entered and congratulations to the winners.”
Part of the judging panel was professional photographer, Gareth Williams, who runs GRW Photography.
Gareth said: “It was wonderful to see so many entries to LiveWest's winter photo competition. The standard of the photos was really good, and I was impressed by the thought gone into them. It's a great time of year to go out and take photos and I loved the variety.
“There were some great landscape shots and also some lovely pictures of pets. Congratulations to the winners and wishing everyone a happy Christmas.”