Baby hippo caught in bull's jaws in shocking image from wildlife photo contest

This is the shocking moment a hippopotamus sinks its teeth into a rival’s calf.

In the image, the male bull catches the baby hippo in its jaws, on the verge of hurling it into the water in a spray of blood.

The male hippo was attacking a rival’s calf in the picture, taken by Russian photographer at the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania.

The image was highly commended in the Society of International Nature and Wildlife Photographers Wonderful Wildlife Photography Competition.

The winner of the competition was a picture of a stag staring down the camera in Richmond Park in London.

It was taken by Mark Lynham, 58, from Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire, who captured the moment during his first ever trip to Richmond Park, with his wife Amanda last October.

"We’d never visited before but had wanted to for a few years, but finally decided to pay it a visit.

"We arrived as dawn was breaking and wandered along some pathways and it wasn’t long before we saw our first stag as the light was starting to come up.

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"We went further into where all the ferns and trees were. It was very quiet and very still, and after a while I had that feeling that I was being watched.

"I stopped and looked round slowly and I saw the stag, just standing looking at us from within the ferns. It was eerily quiet.

"I raised my camera very slowly and managed to take some shots quickly.

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"It stayed still for around a minute before turning around and walking off in to the distance.

"It was an incredible moment I have to say and looking at the back of the camera I knew I had a beautiful image of the stag and the autumnal tones really add to the image.

"The trip was well and truly worth it."

Runner-up in the competition was Cecilie Stuedal, 24, from Innlandet, Norway, with her shot of an Arctic fox cub at sunset.

Third place went to British photographer Alan Shearman, who captured a rare red-backed shrike bird eating a grasshopper.

"I photographed this shrike at RSPB West Canvey Marsh in south Essex where it stayed for about two weeks one autumn,” he said.

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"It fed mainly on grasshoppers and showed well as it used a fence beside a path as its lookout point."

Another highly commended image, taken by Maggie Bullock from Northwich, Cheshire, was a picture of a kestrel looking down the lens as it flew off with its prey clutched tightly in its talons.

A second stag picture, this one taken in London’s Bushy Park by Ann Aveyard, was also highly commended in the competition.

Colin Jones, director of the society, said: “This competition was very popular with images coming in from all over the globe.

"Mark’s beautiful image was chosen as the winning image as the gentle tones and colour captures the theme of the competition very well.”