Stephen Dalton's photographs have already been sent into space. Now they will now be dropping on to doormats across Britain on a new set of stamps.

The dramatic pictures of birds in flight have been chosen to adorn the next Royal Mail series.

Ten different first-class stamps, released on Monday, capture in split-second detail an owl landing and a kestrel launching into flight.

Stephen, a world-renowned nature photographer, used studios at his home in Ardingly, near Haywards Heath, to take the stunning time-lapse images.

The barn owl is pictured against a black backdrop to reflect its nocturnal habits while the kestrel leaps out from stark white.

Stephen uses high-speed, multi-flash photography to record animal movements that are too rapid for the eye to see.

In order to capture the sequences he set up a single light beam at one end of the studio. When the bird broke the beam it triggered flash units.

Stephen said: "It was exciting to work on a stamp issue.

"You have to do about two days of preparatory work getting the studio ready and then I needed about a day for each bird to get them to fly where I wanted them to.

"On the whole I find multi-flash photography quite constricting. I would like to be out in the wild with the animals but it's the only way to capture this sort of movement."

The father-of-four has run the Natural History Photographic Agency in Ardingly since 1982.

In the Sixties he left an office job to study at the School of Photography in London.

His insect images were put on the NASA spaceships Voyagers One and Two, along with works of Shakespeare and music by Bach.

The stamps go on sale from January 14. Visit www.stephendalton.net to see more of his work.