See the pictures that have the wildlife photographers giggling

These pictures of an owl desperately trying to keep its composure and re-join his friends on a tree branch has been named the Comedy Wildlife Photo of the Year. The series of images showing the bird clambering back after losing his footing was one of 3500 photos entered in the awards for 2017.

There were five separate awards with prizes for Overall Winner, On the Land, Under the Sea, In the Air, and best portfolio. John Threlfall won out in the airborne category for his perfectly timed photo of a bird passing the contrail of an airplane.

In the On the Land competition, Andrea Zampatti was the winner for his photo of an unreasonably happy-looking field mouse on a flower. In the submarine category, Troy Mayne’s photo of a fish appearing to get slapped by a grumpy sea turtle won the gong.

Tibor Kercz was both the overall and portfolio winner for his owl series and won a safari to Kenya, a handmade trophy, and the title of Comedy Wildlife Photographer of the Year. The awards were created by photographers Tom Sullam and Paul Joynson-Hicks as a way to highlight conservation with a sense of humour.

Paul Joynson-Hicks said: “it’s been a real success this year, the quality of images has improved substantially and we have had more entries and from more countries. We had many more entries, from more countries – 86 in total this year – and with a much higher calibre of photograph. For me, one of my favourites was the fox peeing in the golf hole, I know that there are lots of people who feel the same way about golf! But there were so many incredible shots this year, it was really hard to choose.”

They will be hoping for an even bigger entry for 2018 so if any of your travel snaps this year fit the bill, you might get lucky and win.