Curious squirrel takes first place in Belgian photo contest

11 August 2020 Forests in photos

For the fourth time, PEFC Belgium invited professional and amateur photographers to participate in their ‘Experience Forests, Experience PEFC’ photo contest.

A jury of professional photographers chose the three winners out of the more than 300 photos that entered the Belgian contest.

The three winning photos highlight the beauty and diversity of Belgium’s forests.

The winning images

The winner is Wim De Baets with his photo ‘Het blauwe tapijt’ (‘The blue carpet’), taken in Tervuren, Belgium.

“Already for a few years, I had been hoping to photograph a squirrel between the forest hyacinths. They only bloom for a very short time, and you have to be lucky to see a squirrel in the right moment,” the winning photographer explains.

“I had already seen a squirrel in that neighborhood, so I sat there for a few days, completely camouflaged, just to get it on a photo.”

Claude Corda came in second with his photo ‘L’isolé’ (‘The isolated’), taken in the Dave forest close to Namur, Belgium.

Third place went to Pieter Vandenheede for his image ‘Reizen in eigen land’ (‘Traveling in your own country’), taken in the Arboretum Tervuren in Belgium.

“The photo came about entirely by chance, when I visited the Arboretum for the very first time on a foggy and cold December morning,” he said.

“When the morning sun came through the trees, I started taking pictures with my phone.”

The prizes

Mr De Baets receives a voucher for photo equipment worth 400€, Mr Corda worth 150€ and Mr Vandenheede worth 100€.

For more photos entered into PEFC Belgium’s contest, head to Instagram and search for the hashtag #experienceforestscontest2020!