A collection of stunning images of Mother Nature at her most beautiful, captured by students at the University, will be displayed to the public as part of a free new exhibition – 7 Magpies.

The photos from the natural world, taken by postgraduate students studying on the one-year MSc Biological Photography and Imaging course run by the School of Life Sciences, can be seen at the Wollaton Hall Courtyard Café from Friday 13 May to Friday 27 May.

The nature photography includes images of sunlight glinting off the delicate petals of a tulip, the Aurora Borealis dancing in the sky above snowcapped Icelandic mountains and the extravagant purple hues of a passion flower in full bloom. Fittingly, it also features striking photos of Wollaton Hall’s most famous residents – the Red and Fallow deer which are synonymous with the Nottingham landmark. The exhibition will be open Monday to Friday from 8am, Saturday and Sunday from 9am to around 9pm. For a preview of some of the photos from the exhibition, visit the News Room blog.

The 7 Magpies exhibition has been organised by the students as part of a module for their course – the only one of its kind in the UK – which has challenged them to produce all the imagery and then organise every detail of the event, from finding a venue to organising the large format printing of their work.

The exhibition officially opens on Friday 13 May with a launch event at 5.30pm which will feature two graduates as guest speakers:

• Alex Hyde, now a professional natural history photographer based in the Peak District and winner of the Hidden Britain category in the 2015 British Wildlife Photography Awards for his incredible image of a female crane fly covered in morning dew. His work has been published in numerous newspapers, books and magazines including The Times, The Daily Telegraph, BBC Wildlife Magazine and New Scientist.
• Alex Wilkinson, a professional photographer and videographer whose work has won national photography competitions and has included travel to Uganda to produce a book on chimpanzees titled Our Closest Relative – The Chimpanzee.

More information about the exhibition can be found on a dedicated Facebook page and via Twitter. You can also read the press release for more information.

Image: Tiger – Peter Simons. A Sumatran Tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae) photographed at Anna’s Welsh Zoo in Pembrokeshire.