Amatuer photographer Kyle Moore (14) He has had some wildlife pictures published in Amateur Photographer magazine Picture: James Bass

A series of eye-catching wildlife pictures may look good enough to have been taken by a professional photographer.

© Kyle Moore Photography Barn Owl

But it may surprise you to know that they are actually the work of an enthusiastic amateur – aged 14.

Wildlife-loving youngster Kyle Moore likes nothing better than crawling through mud and camouflaging himself so he can get up close to his subjects – so much so that his dad likens him to Dr Dolittle.

Kyle, of Oakwood Road, Lowestoft, has already proved he has a great eye for an image as four of his pictures have won him a national acclaim after being published in Amateur Photography magazine.

His stunning photographs of a red deer stag in Richmond Park in London, a little owl perched on a post in Leicestershire and two adders in Norfolk won Kyle £50 and a new tripod. And his success is all the more surprising when you consider that he only took up his hobby just under three years ago.

While many other youngsters are playing football, skateboarding or enjoying their favourite video games, Kyle can often be found at Carlton Marshes nature reserve with his camera, trying to find birds and animals to photograph.

He enjoys taking pictures of all sorts of wildlife but his favourite subjects are owls, and urban foxes and he has even travelled down to London on occasions to find a fox to photograph after dark.

Kyle said: “I am very happy my photographs got published but I am already thinking of how to take better ones.

“I like the way the photographs tell their own little story. Just to get one photograph of an owl can take days and I can take thousands of photographs of a fox just to get one that I like.

“I really like wildlife and photography – I’d love to go to Finland and take some pictures of European brown bears.”

Kyle was given his first digital camera for his 12th birthday in 2010.

His first photograph of an owl at Carlton Marshes won The Journal’s popular Picture of the Week competition, which he continues to enter, and he has also been commended in an RSPCA photographic contest. He now uses a Canon ID MK III and has a camouflaged lens barrel and netting which he uses to great effect to get up close to animals, ensuring they do not spot him as he gets them in perfect focus.

And Kyle proudly puts some of his photographs on his own website so people can see his work.

His father, Darren Clarke, 41, said: “I call Kyle Dr Dolittle. He knows everything about animals and I’m proud of his photographs, especially when I see them in the paper or a magazine. I just hope he keeps it going.”

Kyle’s mother, Caroline Moore, 40, said she was pleased his hobby got him outdoors doing something active. “Sometimes he’s come home covered in mud,” she said. “He just loves getting out there and taking photographs.”

■To see more of Kyle’s work, visit his website at www.kylemoorephotography.com