A PHOTO of a puffin kicking another puffin has seen a Reading woman crowned Young British Wildlife Photographer of the Year.

Becky Bunce, 18, won the award for a particularly dramatic photograph of two puffins fighting taken on Skomer Island in Pembrokeshire.

While it was the warring shot that would catch the judges’ eye, Miss Bunce has spent several years capturing the soaring majesty of Berkshire’s red kites and other birds in their natural habitat.

“I have been taking wildlife photographs for about six years now,” said the Theale Green pupil, who recently received an A and two Cs in her A-levels.

“I first got into it through my dad who really likes photography.”

A love of the outdoors regularly coaxes Miss Bunce from her home off Bath Road to Moor Copse Wildlife Reserve to the west of Reading.

It was on a trip to Wales with her dad however that she would glimpse a fiery bird-on-bird encounter on one of the few British islands that has a significant puffin population.

Miss Bunce said: “You have to take a precarious boat with all your luggage if you want to stay there, and we decided to spend a weekend.

“My interpretation of the fight was that it was a territorial dispute.

“They started to have a scrap then kick each other. The one that’s getting kicked in the photo seemed to say ‘maybe this isn’t for me’ before giving up.”

Although Miss Bunce was told of her victory in June, she has had to keep the honour close to her chest until Monday this week.

“When I found out it was amazement more than anything,” she said.

“I just love taking wildlife photographs. To have people say it is good is really amazing.”

In terms of the future, Miss Bunce will continue to enjoy the honour on a gap year while deciding whether to study photography at university or attempt to jump straight into a career behind the lens.