A WILDLIFE photographer has kindly shared with us his highlights of the year – and they’re stunning.

Colin Varndell might not have started his working life as a photographer, but over the past few decades has made his name by winning awards for capturing snapshots of wildlife.

Such is the quality of his work, it is often to be seen in books, magazines, calendars, newspapers and advertising campaigns.

And it comes with the territory that Mr Varndell should become something of a natural history expert, and the evidence for that is clear in his distinctive style of nature photography - as you can see from these beautiful photographs cataloguing some of the highlights of Mr Varndell’s year.

Here is Mr Varndell’s selection of the best of 2018 from January to June. We’ll continue his highlights in next week’s paper.

To see more of Mr Varndell’s work, visit colinvarndell.co.uk