TALKING to weasels is not a exactly a habit for wildlife photographer Leslie Holburn.

But on a trip to the seaside, the one-sided conversation provided Leslie with a stunning picture which made him a winner in a new region-wide competition.

It was probably more than a snap decision by the wildlife trusts of Northumberland, Durham and the Tees Valley to merge their individual annual wildlife photography competitions.

And at the finals awards ceremony at the Great North Museum in Newcastle, the combined operation proved to be a winner in itself.

It attracted a total of 1,500 pictures and left experts hugely impressed by the quality of submissions.

The entries were whittled down to a shortlist over five categories of 81 images.

The sifting was carried out by North East professional wildlife photographers Kaleel Zibe and Alan Hewitt, who also run the combined business of Hawkshead Photography which, with Trai Anfields’s Enlightened Media venture, offers workshops and safaris.

Hawkshead, Opticron and Nestle, which has planted butterfly meadows at its factory in Fawdon in Newcastle, were the main sponsors of the competition which was also backed by the Natural History Society of Northumbria.

Retired goldsmith Leslie Holburn carried off two prizes, winning the wildlife portrait category and runner-up in the wildlife in the landscape section.

His winning picture of a watching weasel was captured during a day’s outing to Newbiggin-by-the-Sea in Northumberland to photograph waders.

Leslie, from Ebchester in County Durham, spotted the weasel among rocks and decided on a strategy which would hopefully convince the animal it had nothing to fear.

“I started walking towards it, waving to it and I kept talking to it,” he said.

“If I had tried to sneak up on it the weasel would have seen me as a threat so I tried to put it at its ease because it would know where I was.

“It gave me the chance to get in range and it kept popping up to take a look.” Leslie’s runner-up picture of a robin was taken at Clara Vale in Gateshead.

“It was about -14C and the hawthorn tree in front of me was frosted,” he said.

“When the robin arrived and fluffed itself up it made a perfect Christmas card.

“That’s what I sent to friends this Christmas.”

Eric Wilson, from Bedlington in Northumberland, won the wildlife behaviour category with his image of a kingfisher with its beak around wood on a tree.

His picture was also chosen as overall winner by broadcaster and author of the book The Urban Birder, David Lindo, who spoke at the awards ceremony.

Retired civil servant Eric and wife Susan are members of Cambois Camera Club and are regular visitors to Gosforth Park nature reserve in Newcastle.

They had gone to Gosforth Park to try to picture rare bitterns which had been attracted by the reserve’s reed beds.

Eric said: “Sometimes you see kingfishers at the reserve and then you can go weeks without seeing the birds. I have never seen one behave in the way this one did with the wood on the tree. Perhaps it was cleaning its beak.”

The winner of the young person’s section was Abigail Wray, aged 12, with a study of bluebells in the garden of her home at Cockfield in County Durham.

An exhibition of the winning pictures will run at the Great North Museum until May 10.

See The Journal on Thursday for more winners and a selection of pictures.