Wild Snaps 2023 Photography Competition

An ochre and black Honey Bee in sharp focus with round bright yellow sacs of pollen on its leg sitting on a spherical deep blue flower.

Honey Bee © Lesley Fidell. Winner of the Adult Camera Category.

Wild Snaps 2023 - Winners Announced!

UPDATE MAY 2024

Wild Snaps is taking a holiday this year but we hope to be back in 2025! We love to see your wildlife photos though so please do share on social media and tag us!

------------------------------------

We are excited to announce the winners of Wild Snaps 2023!

A big thank you to everyone who entered and shared their wonderful images of wildlife with us. Yet again it's been a privilege to see so many amazing photographs, celebrating our local wildlife. 

 

Introducing the 2023 winners

Our judges chose over 30 images to go to the public vote.  Here are the winners for each category - and you can see the finalists in our gallery below too!

Adult Camera Category

In the Adult Camera category, Lesley Fidell’s wonderfully detailed photo of a Honey Bee taken on a Ceanothus plant in her Watford back garden won the hearts of the public. Lesley captured the shot on a Nikon D7500 with a 105mm Macro lens. 

An ochre and black Honey Bee in sharp focus with round bright yellow sacs of pollen on its leg sitting on a spherical deep blue flower.

Honey Bee © Lesley Fidell. Winner of the Adult Camera Category.

Adult Smartphone Category

Winner of the Adult Smartphone category, Peter White fortunately had his iphone to hand when he spotted a distinctively-marked Wasp Spider in Stevenage’s Fairlands Valley Park. Peter’s focus was so good that no cropping or editing were needed to show off the Wasp Spider’s wild beauty.

Black, yellow and white striped spider sitting on its faint, lacy web.

Wasp Spider © Peter White. Winner of the Adult Smartphone Category.

Under 18s Camera Category

Megan O’Callaghan, excelled in the Under 18’s Camera category, for her fabulous shot of a fast-moving Grey Squirrel, which she did well to freeze frame on her Canon EOS 90D, whilst her subject took a pause on a bird table in her garden. 

Mammal with a silver-grey coat, with a brownish face and feet, and pale underside. It has a characteristically bushy tail which it is holding to its face as if it is blowing its nose.

Grey Squirrel © Megan O’Callaghan. Winner of the Under 18s Camera Category.

Under 18s Smartphone Category

Jason Clayton got a great photo of a Common Carder Bee to win the Under 18’s Smartphone category - picture-perfect, the image needed no editing. 

Ochre and black Bee sitting on bright orange marigold flowers.

Common Carder Bee © Jason Clayton. Winner of the Under 18s Smartphone Category.

Wild Snaps 2023 Finalists

Meet the Judges for 2023

This year entries will be judged by an experienced and talented group of conservationists, photographers and wildlife enthusiasts. Read on to find out more about them.

Woman standing in front of trees

(c) Louise Turner

Louise Turner - Award-winning journalist and filmmaker

Louise heads up the features department at Channel 4 News, commissioning in-depth pieces to run on the daily evening programme. Louise has driven coverage of the biodiversity crisis and looks after the environmental content for the programme, ensuring these most important of issues are given exposure. Prior to the last decade or so in news, Louise was travelling the UK and the World as a producer-director making documentaries for Channel 4 and the BBC including the Natural History Unit. Outside of work, Louise is a trustee for Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust with the hope of helping nature’s recovery in our local patch.  

Tim Hill

Tim Hill - Conservation Manager

Tim Hill is the Conservation Manager with Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust, leading on the Trust’s work in the wider countryside for wildlife and people. He has been working as conservation professional for over 30 years, beginning his career as a ranger in the Peak District National Park. In a voluntary capacity he is a Trustee of the Hertfordshire Natural History Society and Committee member of the Herts Bird Club. He spends much of his spare time looking through a camera viewfinder and his photographs have been used widely to illustrate the publications of Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust. Tim has a particular fondness of wet and muddy places and the creatures that live there.

The head of a fluffy grey cygnet (baby swan) is poking out of the pure white feathers of its parent, upon whose back it is sitting.

Wild Snaps 2022 Under 16’s Category – Mute Swan and Cygnet © Bruno Slim

The Prizes

We will be awarding winning prizes for adults and under-18s, and also for smartphone images within these age groups.

Adults

  • Camera Winner - £150 Opticron Vouchers + image featured in Wildlife Matters Magazine.
  • Smartphone Camera Winner - £150 Opticron Vouchers + image featured in Wildlife Matters Magazine.

Under 18s

  • Camera Winner - Badger Watching Experience Voucher at Tewin Orchard Nature Reserve; a pair of Opticron 8x21 binoculars; Tommy & Lottie £10 Gift Voucher + image featured in Wildlife Matters Magazine.
  • Smartphone Camera Winner: Family 'Smartphone Safari' from Jet Black Squares (up to 4 children and 2 adults); a pair of Opticron 8x21 binoculars; Tommy & Lottie £10 Gift Voucher + image featured in Wildlife Matters Magazine.

Our Competition Sponsors for 2023

Opticron logo

Founded in the UK in 1970, Opticron is a family-owned business with fifty years experience of designing, manufacturing and selling consumer optics. Whatever your age, budget or experience we aim to always provide you with the best mix of quality, choice and value plus the best customer service possible.

Our maxim “smaller, lighter, brighter, sharper” is the driving force behind the compact and lightweight equipment we offer. This focus helps us deliver innovative products such as our range of MM travelscopes and fieldscopes and the super lightweight Traveller BGA and Imagic IS binocular range.

Jet Black Squares Logo

Jet Black Squares runs Smartphone Safaris (smartphone photography masterclasses) in Hertfordshire and London showing you how to get the best out of the camera in your pocket. Not only are Smartphone Safaris a great way to learn how to take better photos without having to spend a fortune on new equipment, but also a way to get out and about either with the family, as a couple, on your own or as part of a group. A fantastic, generation-spanning activity for everyone.  

Black and white text Tommy and Lottie

Tommy and Lottie are a unisex, ethical and sustainable brand specialising in well made, organic cotton basics which include t shirts and sweatshirts, a babywear collection, back packs made from recycled plastic and wall prints all with a wildlife theme.

Wild Snaps 2023 Terms and Conditions