A BALD Eagle dives through a blizzard on some unsuspecting creature in the snow below; a perfectly-formed water droplet slips off a tiny snowdrop petal, and a fragile butterfly clings to a wet twig for dear life.

The drama, beauty and peril of the natural world is brought to life in a stunning photography exhibition at Oxford University's Museum of Natural History.

The show is curated by Oxford Photographic Society and themed 'on the beauty of the natural world'.

Scott Billings and Ellena Smith, pictured here, from Oxford University's museums service, helped promote the show and urged people to catch it while they can.

Among the images is this remarkable shot of a bald eagle in Alaska, captured by Ron Perkins, who won international acclaim for winning the British Wildlife Category of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition in 1999.

Speaking about that shot to the natural history museum he said: "In early winter, the Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve attracts up to 3,000 eagles which pause on their seasonal migration to the south in order to feed on the salmon that swim up the river to spawn.

"Having discovered this photo opportunity via the internet I easily recruited three Oxford Photographic Society members to travel to Alaska.

"The journey took two-and-a-half days via Seattle and Juneau by air and on to the small town of Haines by an 80-mile ferry trip."

The epic journey was evidently worth it.

But not all the photographs in the show required such an expedition: Dave Stroud captured his captivating snowdrop shot in the garden of a fellow photographer in Oxfordshire.

But precision timing meant he was able to snap a water drop in mid-air as it fell of the tiny petal.

Terry Lee had to travel slightly further to get his atmospheric shot – a group of Ibis haunting a tree, silhouetted against a burnt orange sky, which he titled Ibis and Friends.

The red-in-tooth-and-claw exhibition, which brings the wilderness into the museum's first floor cafe, opened on October 22 and runs until January 22.

The museum on Parks Road opens from 10am to 5pm every day.