A Sittingbourne snapper’s eye for stunning scenes of natural beauty has earned him a national prize.

Robert Canis was among the winners at this year’s British Wildlife Photography Awards.

The 42-year-old, who is a regular contributor to SNE and lives in the town centre, took the honours in the Botanical Britain category.

His picture, In the Shadow of Giants, features a small mushroom surrounded by giant beech trees. It was taken in King’s Wood near Canterbury and proved spectacular enough to impress a judging panel made up of leading wildlife photographers and editors.

Robert described the stakeout process which led to him capturing the woodland image last November.

He said: “I was photographing autumn scenes such as fallen leaves and fungi, when I became taken by this tiny mushroom on the forest floor.

“It was overshadowed by this huge beech trees.

“They have a symbiotic relationship and depend on one another for survival.

“So I literally crawled on my hands and knees for a long time until I saw something which illustrated the point.”

A keen photographer for 30 years, Robert was presented with his wildlife award - which included a set of camera equipment - by Springwatch presenter Chris Packham during a ceremony at London’s Mall Galleries.

His wildlife work was the subject of a One Show feature in 2011 and he runs tours to some of the world’s most breathtaking areas of natural beauty.

He is due to lead a party to Lapland where they will have their lenses trained on the Northern Lights, “nature’s own theatre”.

Robert said: “It’s nice to be recognised by some very, very notable judges,” he said.

“But I take pictures for me and to show others how great British wildlife is, particularly in Kent.

“We’re very lucky in the Swale area. We’ve got the coastline, the woodlands and the North Downs to the south of the area.”

He added: “I just want to keep improving my photos and make people aware of the fragility of our countryside and how important it is we look after it.”