A leaping rat, window-licking fox and fighting stoats: Incredible pictures as British mammals fight it out for top photograph of the year
An unusually cute rat leaped to victory ahead of a window-licking fox and a hungry wood mouse to win
The Mammal Society photograph of the year.
The judges were won over by the close-up picture of the brown rat taking a long-distance jump between two rusty cans, set up by Roy Rimmer from Wigan, who managed to snap him mid-air.
Wildlife photographer and competition judge Kate MacRae said: 'This image quite literally leaped out at me when I first saw it.'
The winner: This energetic rat leaped to first place in the Mammal Society Photographic Competition
A close second: The adorable licking fox also warmed the hearts of the jury
Foxes have had a bad press recently but Julie Milne won second place with her adorable image of a young fox cub licking a window from her garden in Kent.
Third place: A wood mouse up close, tucking into a blackberry
The wood mouse eating his blackberry while balancing on a thorny branch came in third. Photographer Gary Cox impressed the judges by showing this common mammal in an intimate way.
Scrapping by the estuary: Fighting stoats in the undergrowth in north Wales
Roe deer at dawn: A deer is pictured in the hazy morning light with London in the distance
Surfing seal: A streamlined seal charges through the sea in Cornwall
Deer in Richmond Park: A lone deer faces the camera in a London park
A weasel among the sparrows: The frightened birds make a swift exit from a weasel in Rainham Marshes
Leaping dolphins: Two elegant dolphins swim energetically past the coast at the Firth of Forth
With its prey: A fox carries mice off for its next feed