Wildlife winner!

My blip adviser came second in the Barnsley Biodiversity Trust, Wildlife Poetry and Story competition and we went to the prize giving ceremony at the central library this morning. Ian McMillan, local poet, celebrity and presenter of `The Verve' on Radio 4 was there to give out the certificates and cheques!

I think he has a problem with numbers, if not words, as the promised £30 000 somehow ended up with three noughts less on the cheque.

The prizes for the under 16 competition were all presented to boys - all under ten. And in the 16+ competition first and third prizes went to men. Who says that boys can't write!

It was a great event and Ian kept the proceedings lively and was fantastic with everyone, especially the children. This is Ann's second local competition win in the last few months as she previously won the Doncaster FM prize for her poem Motorway.

In case you are interested this is her winning piece:

Wild
Late summer in Hood Green - parched golden in afternoon light - and an immense combined harvester, like a mechanised Caro sculpture, roaring across the far side of this wheat field, laying sudden straw bales like deformed eggs.

I'm standing completely still, my camera tracking the machine, ready to press the shutter release when the chute spews grain into the waiting trailer.

Even through the distant mechanical roar, I can feel the scudding of small hard paws along the footpath behind me. Eye still to my camera viewer, I picture a terrier - a Jack Russell (owner puffing along far behind) - pounding towards the backs of my legs ready to jump up and wreck my shot.

I grip my camera in one hand and, without taking my eye from the viewfinder, stretch my other hand down, spread to divert the charging terrier. As the shutter clicks, a warm, smooth-haired skull presses briefly up into my palm and pounds on. I lower my camera and see, not a Jack Russell, but a hare powering on down the path.

My camera stores the image of the combined harvester, my memory the print of the hare's crown, brief and warm in my palm, like a blessing.