A rare shoebill stork has been pictured in Uganda's swamps on the fringes of Lake Victoria. 

Cameron Scott, a wildlife photographer, captured the incredible transfixing gaze of a bird famed for its basilisk-like death stare. 

With an enormous foot-long bill and standing almost 5ft tall, the large bird is capable of catching fish a metre in length, large snakes and even small crocodiles. 

Mr Scott, owner of Royal Ngala Safaris, took the incredible images in April in Uganda's Mabamba swamps.

In a post on Instagram, he wrote: "It's been a dream of mine to capture the famous death stare of the Shoebill stork for many years.

"Nothing can prepare you for the moment you lay your eyes on a creature so petrifyingly prehistoric and unapologetically proud."

The shoebill is a critically-endangered bird, with its global population currently estimated at between 5,000 and 8,000.

Lake Victoria is Africa's largest lake by area, and the world's largest tropical lake.