PHOTOGRAPHERS from across the county can rest easy now, after a summer of busily trying to capture the best vision of Wiltshire.

The deadline for VisitWiltshire's popular annual photographic competition has now passed, leaving the judging panel with the unenviable task of drawing up a shortlist of finalists from the almost 500 entries.

Keen to replicate the success of Krzysztof Dac’s striking image of the blue skies and ominous clouds over Cley Hill which was selected by the judging panel last year as the overall winner of the 2016 competition, the judges have received submissions from amateur and seasoned photographers alike.

Among this year's entries was a photograph by Shelley Day from Royal Wootton Bassett of a peacock butterfly resting on a Buddleia, while a slightly larger winged object starred in Hayley Dew's photograph after the Trowbridge photographer captured a paraglider soaring near the Westbury White Horse.

Andy Romain from Swindon took to the skies to capture his shots of Silbury Hill and Hackpen Hill, while Henk Leerink from Salisbury took inspiration from his home city to capture the cloisters at Salisbury Cathedral, as well as a derelict barn at Clench Common.

From further afield, Hilary Spon from Canterbury submitted a photograph of some sheep grazing at Avebury.

This year the competition was supported by Castle Cameras in Salisbury who have put forward the top prize of a Nikon D3300 camera with 18-55 lens – worth over £300 – for the best photograph overall, plus two runners up prizes of a £50 gift voucher each to spend at Castle Cameras.

Jenny Butler, VisitWiltshire's marketing manager, said this year's competition had seen entrants pull out all the stops in order to be in with a chance of being named the best in the county.

She said: "We had a terrific response to our 2017 Time for Wiltshire photo competition and it has proved to be a real record breaker, with almost 500 photos received – up 29 per cent on 2016 which was, in itself, a bumper year.

"The quality of images submitted was extremely high, setting the judges a real challenge when it comes to selecting the winner and runners up.

"The results will be announced soon – watch this space for details."