The first look at
#WPY60
is here, with William Fortescue’s striking photo of mating lions set against storm clouds, lit by the setting sun ✨
It wasn’t until William viewed an enlarged image that he spotted saliva trails and insects exploding from the male’s mane.
We’re delighted to reveal the winner of the
@LumixUK
#WPYpeopleschoice
Award is
@davidllo
with his heart-warming image, Bond of Brothers! 🦁
Congratulations, David!
Find out more and see the Highly Commended images in the top five here:
Next up is the Urban Wildlife category. Gil Wizen
@wizentrop
is the winner with this incredible Brazilian wandering spider.
After noticing tiny spiders all over his bedroom, Gil looked under his bed. There, guarding its brood, was one of the world’s most venomous spiders.
#WPY57
Congratulations Sergey! 🏆 Selected from over 49,000 entries, this is a rare glimpse of a magnificent Amur tigress fully immersed in her natural environment, hugging an ancient Manchurian fir in the Russian Far East.
#WPY56
In our latest film
@davidllo
reminds us that all animals are individuals. His image ‘Bond of brothers’, featuring a pair of male lions, is shortlisted for the
@LumixUK
#WPYPeoplesChoice
Award.
The public vote for the award closes tomorrow. Take part now:
Congratulations Karine Aigner, Wildlife Photographer of the Year! 🏆 In her bee-level close-up, all except one are males and they are intent on mating with the single female at the centre. Like most bees, they are threatened by habitat loss, pesticides, and climate change.
#WPY58
.
@davidllo
was honoured to have witnessed this intimate moment between two adult male lions, who were probably brothers.
His image is in the running for the
@LumixUK
#WPYPeoplesChoice
Award and the winner is up to you!
See the shortlist and vote here:
It's with great sadness we're letting you know that after a careful investigation into the image 'The night raider', we have disqualified the photograph. It was the winner of the 2017 Animals in Their Environment category. More info here:
And Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2019 is... Yongqing Bao.
Selected from over 48,000 entries, Yongqing’s shot frames a battle for survival. Combining humour & horror, the image captures an unforgettable moment between a Tibetan fox and a marmot.
Congrats, Yongqing!
#WPY55
Congratulations to Majed Ali from Kuwait, this year's Animal Portraits category winner! Majed trekked for four hours to meet Kibande, an almost-40- year-old mountain gorilla. As cooling rain began to fall, Kibande remained in the open, seeming to enjoy the shower.
#WPY57
ONE HOUR LEFT 😱 If you haven't chosen your winner for the
@LumixUK
#WPYPeoplesChoice
Award, now is the time.
See the shortlist of 25 nature photographs and pick your favourite. Every vote counts!
Our youngest category winner, in 10 Years and Under, is Arshdeep Singh from India with 'Pipe Owls'.
After his keen observational skills helped him see these spotted owlets Arshdeep waited patiently for the birds to peep out from their hiding place to get this winning shot.
#WPY54
Our winner in the Behaviour: Invertebrates category is Frank Deschandol. His image 'A tale of two wasps' is a remarkable framing of a red-banded sand wasp (left) and a cuckoo wasp, about to enter next-door nest holes.
#WPY56
We are delighted to announce that the winner of the
@lumixuk
#WPYpeopleschoice
Award is
@SamRowleyPhoto
, with his photograph of mice fighting over food on a London Underground platform.
Find out more about the image and read Sam’s reaction:
For our latest
#WPYinsights
film,
@RobertIrwin
shares the story behind his powerful picture 'The catch', which captures a huntsman spider in mid-air, clutching its meal.
There’s still time to see it in
#WPY54
@NHM_London
, but hurry! It closes this Sunday:
We're thrilled to reveal the winner of the
#WPYPeoplesChoice
Award is Jo-Anne McArthur with her heart-warming shot Pikin and Appolinaire. Thanks to all who voted, and congrats Jo-Anne! Find out more via our news article:
Image: Jo-Anne McArthur/
@WeAnimals
Congratulations to Junji Takasago (Japan), our winner of the Natural Artistry category.
Framing the choreography of a preening group of Chilean flamingos within the reflected clouds, he fought back his altitude sickness to capture this dream-like scene.
#WPY58
Meet Olobor, one of the famous coalition of males in the Black Rock pride in Kenya’s Maasai Mara.
Is this powerful portrait captured by Marina Cano your favourite
#WPYPeoplesChoice
Award image? Vote for it here:
Next up is the Urban Wildlife category. Dmitry Kokh is the winner with this haunting scene of polar bears shrouded in fog at the long-deserted settlement on Kolyuchin.
As they explored the long-deserted settlement, Dmitry used a low-noise drone to share this
#WPY58
moment.
Every evening at sundown in the Cave of the Hanging Snakes, thousands of bats leave for feeding. Fernando Constantino Martínez Belmar (Mexico) waited in darkness as a Yucatan rat snake snapped one up.
Congratulations to
#WPY58
's Behaviour: Amphibians and Reptiles winner!
'The fish always seemed just out of reach'
Our first
#WPY58
Instagram guest of 2023 is American wildlife photographer Adam Rice 👏 From Alaska to the Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, follow along as we share more of Adam’s photography:
A massive congratulations to Nima Sarikhani who has won our
#WPYPeoplesChoice
Award! 👏
‘Winning this award in this prestigious competition truly feels like a dream come true!’
Discover more about this year’s winning People’s Choice Award image:
Huge congratulations to our
#WPY56
winners, Sergey Gorshkov and Liina Heikkinen! 🏆
Discover all the details behind this year's Young Winner, and this year's Wildlife Photographer of the Year:
Congratulations Sascha Fonseca, our latest
#WPYPeoplesChoice
Award winner 🏆
A record 60,466 nature photography fans voted for their favourite of 25 images this year.
Recovering after its confiscation from poachers, a pangolin rests in the hands of a dedicated minder in Zimbabwe. It can take months to gain their trust.
#WPY53
's Adrian Steirn worked carefully to create this compelling portrait. Look out for more tomorrow for
#WorldPangolinDay
.
In the 15-17 Years category, our first winner of the evening is Skye Meaker from South Africa, with his intimate portrait, 'Lounging Leopard'.
Carefully framed and beautifully composed, the natural dappled lighting is atmospheric as the big cat gazes into the distance.
#WPY54
Congratulations Laurent Ballesta, Wildlife Photographer of the Year for the second time 🏆
The tri-spine horseshoe crab has survived more than 100 million years but now faces habitat destruction and overfishing for food and for its blue blood, used to develop vaccines.
#WPY59
Marsel van Oosten is Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2018!
Marsel's image of a pair of golden snub-nosed monkeys captures the beauty and fragility of life on earth, and a glimpse of some of the extraordinary, yet relatable beings we share our planet with.
#WPY54
We’re thrilled to announce Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge
@KensingtonRoyal
, Patron of
@NHM_London
, will reveal this year's Wildlife Photographer of the Year at our first virtual awards ceremony, livestreamed 13 October, 20.00 BST:
#WPY56
Winning the Behaviour: Birds category is Canada's Shane Kalyn.
Ravens probably mate for life. This couple exchanged gifts – moss, twigs and small stones – and preened and serenaded each other with soft warbling sounds to strengthen their relationship or ‘pair bond’.
#WPY57
The winner of the Wetlands - The Bigger Picture is Guatemala's Daniel Núñez, who took this photo with a drone to highlight the impact of contamination on Lake Amatitlán, which takes in around 75,000 tonnes of waste from Guatemala City every year.
'It's with great pleasure that I can announce this year's Wildlife Photographer of the Year is Sergey Gorshkov for his image, The embrace' - HRH The Duchess of Cambridge
@KensingtonRoyal
#WPY56
In
@RobertIrwin
’s
#WPYPeoplesChoice
photo, a fire line leaves a trail of destruction near the border of the Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve in Queensland, Australia.
In a year where wildfires blazed around the world, vote for this stirring image here:
#DidYouKnow
Pallas's cats have the longest and densest fur of any cat?
It took
#WPYAlumni
Shanyuan Li six years to capture this rare scene of playful Pallas’s cats.
Explore our online gallery:
This spectacular photo by
#WPYAlumni
Charlie Hamilton James pulls you right in, as if you’re standing in
@YellowstoneNPS
Charlie left his camera trap in this location for nearly six months, hoping to capture these imposing predators scavenging:
Congratulations
@RobertIrwin
! It's more important than ever to shine a light on the impacts of climate change. This image shows habitat and biodiversity loss happening in real time and we hope it inspires people to make a positive change in their daily lives.
I’m thrilled to announce I’ve won the Wildlife Photographer of The Year People’s Choice Award. For me, photography is about telling important stories to make a difference for our planet. I’m humbled to receive this huge honour and shine a light on the effects of climate change.
Georgina Steytler is our Behaviour: Invertebrates winner. 'Mud-Rolling Mud-Dauber' took hundreds of attempts to perfect, with Georgina lying in the mud as two slender wasps demonstrate their exquisite mud-handling skills
#WPY54
‘Suddenly we noticed movement in the windows’.
Through binoculars, the ghostly white shapes became polar bears.
In this surreal image by Dmitry Kokh, the bears roam the buildings of a long-deserted settlement, shrouded in fog. See more of
#WPY58
:
Shanyuan Li's rare picture of a family of Pallas’s cats on the remote steppes of the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau took six years to capture and is this year's Behaviour: Mammals winner.
Discover
#WPY56
’s winners:
Our winner in the Plants and Fungi category is Colombia's Gabriel Eisenband for this breathtaking scene of white arnica in the foreground of Ritak’Uwa Blanco, the highest peak in the Eastern Cordillera of the Colombian Andes.
#WPY56
It may be
#GalentinesDay
, but this beautiful bromance just won our
@LumixUK
#WPYPeoplesChoice
Award! Congrats again to the winning photographer
@davidllo
.
In case you missed it, here's our article on the winning image:
Thanks to everyone who voted! 🙏
The winner of the
#WPY58
Wildlife Photojournalism category is South Africa's Brent Stirton, for his moving image of the closing chapter of the story of a much-loved mountain gorilla, Ndakasi, in the arms of her rescuer and caregiver of 13 years, ranger Andre Bauma.
Our winner in the Behaviour: Invertebrates category is Gil Wizen's (
@wizentropl
) image, Spinning the cradle, that shows a fishing spider stretching out silk from its spinnerets to weave into its egg sac.
#WPY57
Earlier today we shared the news that
@SamRowleyPhoto
was the winner of the
@lumixuk
#WPYpeopleschoice
award for his image 'Station squabble'. Here is Sam's first reaction to the news:
And the winner of this year’s
#WPYPeoplesChoice
Award is...
@RobertIrwin
. His image shows a bushfire ravaging a forest in Australia, with a 50:50 - pristine conservation area on one side and its blackened remains on the other.
Carlos Perez Naval from Spain wins the 11-14 Years category with 'Duck of Dreams', his eye-level view of a long-tailed duck.
It takes great skill to achieve such a powerful and perfect portrait of a watchful yet undisturbed animal - well done Carlos.
#WPY54
Talk about a supportive parent! In
@dhritimanimages
's
#WPY56
Highly Commended image, a large male gharial, a critically endangered species, acts as a ferry for his numerous offspring. Discover more about this image and the others we’ve released early:
'...Thank you to all of those who entered for showing us the magic of the natural world and for reminding us that caring for our environment and its precious biodiversity has never been more important' - HRH The Duchess of Cambridge
@KensingtonRoyal
#WPY56
From America, David Herasimtschuk wins Behaviour: Amphibians and Reptiles with the dramatic 'Hellbent'. Here a hungry hellbender - a type of huge salamander - is captured in a rarely-seen behaviour, struggling with its water snake prey (which finally freed itself).
#WPY54
From Spain, Ricardo Núñez Montero wins Behaviour: Mammals, with his unforgettable 'Kuhirwa Mourns Her Baby', which gives a rare insight into the complexity of death and mourning in the animal kingdom.
#WPY54
A stunning image by master nature photographer
@LantingFrans
to celebrate
#NewYearsDay
.
One evening during Botswana’s dry season, Frans waded into a water hole to capture a shimmering reflection of elephants at twilight, with a full moon suspended in a luminous pink sky.
#WPYalumni
Juan Carlos Mimó Perez spotted a mouse crouched calmly under this lion’s paw. His quick reaction resulted in this tightly framed moment between one of Africa’s smallest mammals and one of its largest – a nod to Aesop’s fable. Seconds later, the mouse quietly left.
This week on Instagram we've been sharing photos taken by
#WPYPeoplesChoice
Award winner
@RobertIrwin
, a young Australian nature photographer with a passion for wildlife conservation:
A touching farewell from
#WPYPeoplesChoice
Award, with
@OlPejeta
's Joseph Wachira comforting Sudan, the last male northern white rhino moments before he passed.
@Amivee
's hope is Sudan’s legacy will serve as a catalyst to awaken humanity to this reality
The winner of the
#WPY57
Wildlife Photojournalism category is Australia's
@AdamOswell
, for his challenging image that draws attention to zoo visitors watching a young elephant perform under water.
Michael Patrick O’Neill from the USA wins Under Water, with 'Night Flight', capturing the speed, motion and beauty of a flying fish, who can glide for several hundred metres by spreading their long, pointed pectoral fins like wings.
#WPY54
British photographer and
#WPYalumni
Danny Green won our Black and White category in 2009 with this dramatic shot of starlings sweeping through the skies in Gretna Green, Scotland. This particular gathering was the most impressive he had ever seen.
#TBT
Covered in dust, wings spread, head lowered, this white-backed vulture reminded
#WPYalumni
Peter Delaney of a gladiator in his chariot, lining up for a charge. Its picture is a portrayal of the true character of this feisty bird.
Kittens racing for cover, and the mother frozen in her decision-making. Shanyuan Li's rare picture of a family of Pallas’s cats on the remote steppes of the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau in northwest China is this year's winner in the Behaviour: Mammals category.
#WPY56
'Drama on a different scale' - our Portfolio Award winner is India's Ripan Biswas, with an impressive collection revealing the world of his tiny ant subjects. 'The last bite' is the image selected to go forward to the shortlist.
#WPY56
Huge congratulations to 2019's Wildlife Photographer of the Year winners! 🏆
Catch up with all the news from the
#WPY55
awards ceremony, and see which images won over our judges:
Our Animals in their Environment winner is Cristobal Serrano from Spain. 'Bed of Seals' combines a sense of stability with fragility, showing animals with barely enough room to rest, who also rely on the disappearing sea ice to harbour their main food source, krill.
#WPY54
‘Dolphins love to play. When there is a big wave coming, I sometimes see them enjoy surfing on the slope of the rising wave.’
This week’s guest on our Instagram account is
#WPY58
’s Junji Takasago. See more of his photography:
Thomas Peschak from South Africa is our Behaviour: Birds winner, with the captivating 'Blood Thirsty', showing a Vampire finch feeding on the blood of a booby. The booby appears to tolerate the bloodsucking rather than expose their eggs and chicks to the sun.
#WPY54
Have you ever seen a bird listen for their next meal?
This winning
#WPY58
shot by Nick Kanakis captures a rarely seen behaviour – a young grey-breasted wood wren carefully listening for small insects below the leaf litter.
A very special image for
#NationalCatDay
. This shot of the endangered Amur, or Siberian, tiger is one of only a very few taken in the wild without the use of a camera trap. It's also almost certainly the best - the reward for spending months in a cramped hide. By Toshiji Fukuda.
'I would certainly encourage everyone, and particularly young people, to get involved with photography or conservation in some way.' -
#WPYPeoplesChoice
winner,
@RobertIrwin
in
@IFLScience
To mark
#EndangeredSpeciesDay
: This stunning photograph by Toshiji Fukuda of the Amur, or Siberian, tiger is one of only a very few taken in the wild without a camera trap. Threatened by poaching and habitat destruction, their total population numbers at about 540 individuals.
Our winner in the Plants and Fungi category is Greece's Agorastos Papatsanis - for the second year in a row. 🍄
In 'Last breath of autumn', he reveals the magic of a fungus releasing its spores in the forest.
#WPY59
Flying into the weekend (with a beak full of snacks) with Catherine Dobbins d’Alessio’s
#WPY56
photo of a gorgeous Atlantic puffin, illuminated by the evening sun.
Get closer to this year's winning images in our online gallery:
With soft light and muted reflections, an intimate moment of a great crested grebe family by Jose Luis Ruiz Jiménez from Spain wins
#WPY56
's Behaviour: Birds category
Winner of 11-14 Years Old, Sam Sloss, captured this after noticing the hectic and repetitive swimming patterns of a group of clownfish. When he got home he realised he had snapped three lifeforms in a single frame. Immerse yourselves our online gallery:
In honour of the
#YearOfThePig
Young photographer Marc Albiac knew wild boar crossed this road each night to find food. Luck was with him when a mother and two piglets crossed dutifully at the zebra crossing, perfecting this scene of wildlife and people coexisting.
Huge congratulations to our
#WPY57
winners, Laurent Ballesta and Vidyun R Hebbar! 🏆
Discover all the details behind this year's Young Winner, and this year's Wildlife Photographer of the Year.
Unexpected pale blue eyelids complement the immaculately groomed auburn hair of ‘the most laid-back character’, a young male proboscis monkey in Sabah, Borneo. Congratulations to Mogens Trolle, this year's Animal Portraits category winner!
Congratulations to this year's Behaviour: Amphibians and Reptiles winner,
@Jaime_Culebras
from Spain for his image of a Manduriacu glass frog snacking on a spider in the foothills of the Andes, Ecuador.
#WPY56
Collecting his fist ever WPY award, Orlando Fernandez Miranda from Spain wins Earth's Environments, with 'Windsweep', his painterly view of the wild, harsh landscape of Namibia’s desert coastline. Congrats Orlando!
#WPY54