A YOUNG photographer snapped up first place in a wildlife picture competition with his beautiful image of a duck shaking its feathers in the water.

Canon Slade School pupil Joshua Brierley, aged 14, took the photograph during a recent family trip to Martin Mere wetland centre.

Aiming his lens at the unsuspecting bird, the Lostock teenager waited until he captured the moment the duck began to splash.

Of the 150 he had taken, his father, Stephen, also a keen photographer, took a liking to this image and urged his son to upload it for the World Wildlife Trust Martin Mere Junior Photography Competition, and he was recently announced the winner. Josh, who lives with his family in Sudbury Drive, said: “Every summer holiday we go to Martin Mere and I took my camera.

“I was just focusing on the duck waiting for it to splash. I just held the shutter down and got about 150 pictures and one of them, I thought, was really good. My dad really liked it and he said I should upload it.

“It was really good because I had never won a competition before.”

His mother Rachel said Josh and his younger brother Daniel, aged 12, had both gone to the mere with their father that day while she was at work.

The 41-year-old said: “He just showed me what they decided to upload and I thought it was a great picture.

“When he won it was a really nice surprise. We are really proud of him. It is wonderful he has got this talent and it is nice that he has been rewarded for it.”

Josh said he has been taking pictures for as long as he can remember and enjoys taking pictures during family days out and of the views around Heaton. He is not looking to pursue a career in photography, saying he would rather keep it as a hobby. is winning entry will be displayed at Martin Mere until November 5.

The competition was open all summer and was judged by environmental photojournalist Ben Cherry.

Mr Cherry said: “It takes patience and persistence to get an image like this, to get all the motion.”