'Three Rocks. Butt of Lewis' © Ruth Grindrod

The tenth annual Scottish Nature Photography Awards winners have been announced.

Although the Coronavirus pandemic is uppermost in the minds of everyone, the organisers nevertheless feel privileged to mark the achievements of the winners and to provide a reminder of the importance and beauty of nature and landscape in our everyday lives at this time when we must stay at home.

Scottish Nature Photographer of the Year 2019 is Ruth Grindrod from Norfolk. Ruth, a widely published landscape photographer, says that her particular love in terms of photography has always been the sea and coast, regardless of the weather and the conditions.

It's appropriate then that her winning image Three Rocks, taken at the Butt of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, won the Scottish Landscape – Sea & Coast category before being selected as the overall winner of the competition which included environmental, botanical, abstract, wildlife and landscape subjects, and drew entries from around the world.

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Ruth said: "I am more than delighted to win Scottish Nature Photographer of the Year 2019. It is a great honour to be selected and I thank all the judges for their time and effort particularly during this most difficult time. My journey to Scotland is always a long one as I live in Norfolk but I never fail to be excited by some of the best landscapes and seascapes in the world. When life returns to normal I will certainly be back shooting in Scotland."

"My winning entry Three Rocks was taken on an extremely windy day at the Butt of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. Rather than shoot the lighthouse, I chose the formation of these three rocks from a slightly elevated position to capture their shape and form as well as the churning seas. The conditions were tough but persistence paid off with this final capture."

'Glen Etive' © Max Eve 

The winner of the Junior Scottish Nature Photographer of the Year 2019 (under-18s) is Max Eve from Northumberland. Max, who was 14 when he captured his winning image Glen Etive, also won the title in 2015.

Max said: "I am delighted to have won. I really enjoy spending time in and being inspired by the natural environment of Scotland. Torrential rain had occurred all day, limiting photographic opportunities. A sudden break in the weather allowed me to take this image of water escaping off the mountainside to the swollen stream below."

'Gulls in the Clouds Portfolio' © Stephen Rodger

Student Scottish Nature Photographer of the Year 2019 is Stephen Rodger, who is studying HND Professional Photography at Edinburgh College and hopes to progress on to the BA Photography course.

Stephen said: "Having never won a photographic competition before we can rest assured that being named Student Scottish Nature Photographer of the Year 2019 is a very exciting moment for me."

Describing his Gulls in the Clouds Portfolio, Stephen said: "Visual shapes of all varieties have always appealed, and so the theme of Patterns for this category was immediately attractive. As part of my college work, I was shooting an environmental series over a number of months and watching it develop. I was initially focused on the oil refinery at Grangemouth and while I was there I noticed over time that the gulls would use the hot air thermals above the site to gain altitude before flying out over the Forth Estuary. Canny birds. On cold mornings the water vapour from the cooling towers would condense quickly into intense swirling clouds, side lit, high in the sky."