THIS is the small creature that won a photographer a top award from the Scottish Tourist board.

Richard Sowersby of Wiltshire Road, Marlow, took the picture of the ground-nesting wheatear while on a photo competition in Scotland, and it was picked out as the best of the bunch.

Mr Sowersby was among seven photographers invited to the Visit Scotland Wildlife Safari Media Challenge last month, a compet-ition which was staged to coincide with the launch of the board's new wildlife brochure.

The freelance photographer, who took part along with other national and regional press photographers, was taken around the Scottish countryside to capture as many images of different species as possible.

None of the photographers had any previous experience of wildlife photography.

Mr Sowersby, 58, said: "I'm used to photographing people in lots of different positions but wildlife was a new venture for me.

"You have to be quiet out there and get the right moment otherwise you can lose it."

Mr Sowersby, who is currently working for Family Circle and Essential magazines, took the pict-ure while in the ski resort of Aviemore in the Cairngorms, near Inverness.

He was flown to Scotland for two days of photography, which incl-uded a team activity where participants were awarded points for the amount of wildlife species they spotted.

Each team was accompanied by a professional wildlife photographer.

For his victory, Mr Sowersby was handed a framed copy of his photo, and a three-night wildlife break to the Isle of Mull on the west coast of Scotland. There he will go on a whale watching adventure and another wildlife safari.

Mr Sowersby said: "I just went along for the fun of it. I went there to enjoy the experience of photographing wildlife for a change.

"They the other photographers were a very good group of people and of a very good standard."

The new Visit Scotland brochure was released last month and includes tips on when and where to spot rare species of wildlife.