A CREWE youngster has scooped an RSPCA photography award.

Youngsters aged under 19 were invited to capture the animal kingdom on camera or mobile device for this year’s competition.

Robert Jones’s photo, entitled ‘Saving Mr Bee’, was awarded runner-up prize in the Under 12 Mobile Device category.

Robert, aged eight, took the image of the bee on his Huawei p9 mobile phone. He said: “I love this picture. Me and Mum have honey to save tired bees - we found one inside and here he is drinking our honey.”

Attracting entries from under 19s across England and Wales, the RSPCA Young Photographer Awards 2017 were judged by a panel of experts in wildlife photography led by Springwatch presenter Chris Packham.

Judge and host Chris Packham said: “I’ve been judging the RSPCA Young Photographer Awards since they started. It’s exciting to see it move with the times, with this year’s new mobile device category. It’s a great way of making the competition accessible to virtually everyone.”

The winning images across seven categories were announced during an awards ceremony hosted at the Tower of London on December 15.

Reflecting on the strength of the competition this year, Chris added: “It’s nice to see so many photos of day-to-day animals in such a strong competition. It needs real imagination to make commonplace species interesting, showing that the photographer has been really innovative.

“There are a whole range of images this year from creatures they’ve found in their back garden to pets or animals they’ve seen while they were on holiday. It’s great these young people are going out and experiencing the environment around them and in their local area.

“There are some beautiful pictures in this year’s winners gallery and real talent shining through. This year’s entrants have been really creative and that is what we want to see.”

For a full gallery of the winning images please visit: https://young.rspca.org.uk/ypa/galleries