The results of the public voting recently revealed the winners of the best wildlife photography in 2021. It's an exhibition that is currently being held at the Natural History Museum and will run until June 5.

The votes have been counted and the results are in!

This year's #WPYPeoplesChoice has been won by a magical scene of a frosty Italian lake. Wrap up warm and find out more below
https://t.co/y6xZWZnBzd

— Natural History Museum (@NHM_London) February 9, 2022

Frozen Lake, by Cristiano Vedramin, with an online vote count of 31,800, won the top spot, which is a snapshot of a cold scene of a forest of willows towering over a frozen lake in Italy.

This spectacular postcard, which competed with 25 other images, won the public vote after the Museum received 50,000 photographs for the contest.

The image was captured by Vedramin during his visit to Lake Santa Croce in northern Italy, where, according to the photographer, the play of light and reflections on the frozen surface of the lake reminded him of a deceased friend who loved the place.

The lake is the second largest in the Veneto region, with an size of more than seven square kilometers and depth of 33 meters. Expanded in the 1930s, it changes over the four seasons and is home to a wide variety of wildlife.

The trees seen in Vedramin's photo are white willows, medium-sized deciduous trees common throughout Italy. They owe their name to the fine, silky white hair that grows on the underside of its leaves, giving the foliage a white hue.

Vedramin also noted that he hopes his photography will help people understand that the beauty of nature can be found anywhere around them.

"I think that having a daily relationship with nature is increasingly necessary to have a healthy and serene life," he stressed.

Special recognitions

Four other competing photos also received special recognition.

In this image, titled Shelter from the Rain, by Ashleigh McCord, shows two lions holding their heads close to collect water in Kenya's Masai Mara Game Reserve.

Dancing in the Snow shows two beautiful pheasants flapping their wings in a snowstorm. The photograph was taken by Qiang Guo.

This stark image of two kangaroos next to a burning forest, called Hope on a Burnt Plantation, captured by Anne McArthur, was also one of the most popular.

In the dense Anan temperate rainforest in Alaska, a small bear cub decided to take a nap on a mossy branch under the watchful eye of a young bald eagle. The image is aptly titled: The Eagle and the Bear, by Jeroen Hoekendijk.

The Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest was developed and produced by the Natural History Museum in London.