DEDICATED Colin Varndell has scooped a top award for his wildlife photography.

He has won the International Garden Photographer of the Year Competition’s Wildlife in the Garden section.

Mr Varndell, who lives in Netherbury, near Beaminster, said that patience was the key to much of his success.

His award winning picture was a shot of a damsel fly.

He said: “It was quite difficult to get because there were so many damsel flies. “I sat there for about three hours, most of the time there were 20 or more on that marsh rush.

“As always with nature photography patience is the key.

“You can’t think about anything else, you have to watch and be ready to hit the button at that moment.”

The competition attracts thousands of entries from all over the world and winning means, as well as the £500 prize money, the shot will be featured in a major exhibition at Kew Gardens in London for the next year.

It will also be shown in national photographic and gardening magazines.

When former builder Mr Varndell left the rubble behind to take up photography 20 years ago, he was passionate about recording the beauty of the nature he saw and loved around him.

He said: “I am more passionate now than ever. “It’s the deep love for wildlife and wanting to share it with people and to show its fragility and the need for it to be conserved.”

More of Mr Varndell’s work can be seen at colinvarndell.co.uk