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SELECTED FROM THOUSANDS of entries, an underwater photo of sardine predation off the Wild Coast of South Africa was selected as the winning image for the 2016 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year contest.
The photo, titled ‘Sardine Run’ was captured by Greg Lecoeur of Nice, France. Lecoeur took the photo in June 2015 after waiting two weeks to witness the natural predation on sardines captured in the photo.
The photo captures ‘sardine migration’, an annual hunt where millions of sardines are preyed upon by marine predators such as dolphins, marine birds, sharks, whales, penguins, sailfishes and sea lions.
“The hunt begins with common dolphins that have developed special hunting techniques to create and drive bait balls to the surface,” Lecouer said. “In recent years, probably due to overfishing and climate change, the annual sardine run has become more and more unpredictable.”
Hence the two week wait.
Honourable mentions
Other winners of individual categories and the photographers’ comments on how they captured the image are equally impressive.
Varun Aditya, of Tamil Nadu, India, placed first in the Animal Portraits category for a photo of a snake called ‘Dragging You Deep into the Woods’.
“I shot this at Amboli, Maharashtra, India, on July 24, 2016, during a morning stroll into the blissful rain forest. Ceaseless drizzles dampened the woods for 10 hours a day; the serene gloom kept me guessing if it was night or day.The heavy fog, chilling breeze, and perennial silence could calm roaring spirits.”
And there I saw this beauty. I wondered if I needed more reasons to capture the habitat, for I was blessed to see this at the place I was at. I immediately switched from the macro to the wide-angle lens and composed this frame.
Vadim Balakin, of Sverdlovsk, Russia, placed first in the Environmental Issues category for ‘Life and Death’ – a photo of polar bear remains in Norway.
“These polar bear remains have been discovered at one of the islands of northern Svalbard, Norway.
We do not know whether the bear died from starving or aging, but more likely if we see the good teeth status, it was from starving.
“They say nowadays that such remains are found very often, as global warming and the ice situation influence the polar bear population.”
Jacob Kapetein of Gerland, Netherlands, placed first in the Landscape category for a photo of a small beech tree in a river called ‘Struggle of life’.
To restore original natural dynamics in streams many measures are necessary. In the ‘Leuvenumse beek’ a nature organisation tried to increase heterogeneity of the river bottom and water retention by putting dead wood in the stream system.
“In autumn when rainfall is high, pieces of forest get flooded. Once I saw this little beech in the water, trying to survive under these harsh conditions. I returned sometimes to this place to take pictures.
“One evening all the conditions were satisfactory.”
As simple as that guys.
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Can I have my money back now
It’s like’…..burning your furniture – to keep warm!
Why are PwC saying this instead of IBRC and NAMA?
As property prices start to rise nama , ibrc start to dump property
Can someone explain why?
Dumping loans philip, not property. They’re Dumping the loans as they’re non-performing and want to get them off the balance sheet.
If they had the patience, they’d put arrangements in place to allow the properties to return to positive equity and then seek a sale, this recouping more of the tax payers money.
Unfortunately, they’ll sell the loans for a discount and allow the new purchasers to do this and net a tidy profit.
The article outlines that IBRC (IBROKE would probably be a better name) will offload € 15 billion in loans.
Yet the linked article tells us that IBROKE have already offloaded 90% of its loanbook, € 19.8 billion out of € 21.7 billion leaving just € 1.9 billion on hand.
This can only mean, if the previous article is correct, that it is NAMA that is offloading the majority of the loans.
Why the subterfuge?
Why make people think that this is some kind of joint enterprise when it is NAMA that is leading the charge?
Have the shiny suit brigade from the canal something to hide?
Given their obsession with secrecy it would not surprise me if they have, perhaps selling the loans to some preferred customer with an inside track at a serious discount.
The way things go it will all be wrapped up before we know anything, plus ça change.
Who in their right mind would buy this junk?
It might only be worth 30% of face value but if you buy it for 20% it’s a good deal. For the buyer anyway.
@ Irish Revolution
The Banks?
Hedge funds bought it. They will now sell off all the ghost estates etc at a lower price so people that have houses for sale at the min will eventually have to sell for half or take them off the market.
Fab house here in drogheda asking price €325. Hilarious. You could now nearly get a house for that on raglan road or ailsbury road!! So that house is realistically worth less than €150 really.
People and notions ha
What about Bank of Scotland selling on my mortgage & others in their Irish portfolio to a company called Tanager Ltd.
I’m in a tizzy all day because I don’t know what it means for us.
have your say