Grey seal image included in the British Wildlife Photography Awards collection

BWPA announced on 19 March (2025) the winners of the 2025 British Wildlife Photography Awards. I am pleased to say that one of my images has been included in this year’s book, British Wildlife Photography Awards collection 13.

The image is part of the Marine & Coast category, see below some background about the image.

During autumn grey seals come ashore British beaches for the birth of their pups. While the females are giving birth and suckling the pups, the males are starting to establish territory to be there when the females become receptive for mating after the pups have been weaned. These two males intended to both control the same area of the beach, resulting in a tussle.

The UK is a stronghold for grey seals, with about 35-40% of the global population living in British waters. The Norfolk colonies on the English east coast have shown strong growth over the past decade, now representing some of the largest grey seal colonies in the UK. Although this is a great success story, the Norfolk coast is faced with erosion which is accelerated by increased storm activity as a result of climate change. This is a real threat to the beach and dune areas where the grey seals come ashore to give birth to their pups in November/December.

See the winners of the 2025 BWPA competition here. To see more of my British wildlife images, click here.

Two images included in the British Wildlife Photography Awards collection

BWPA announced the winners of the 2023 British Wildlife Photography Awards on Tuesday (14 March 2023). I am pleased to say that two of my images have been included in the British Wildlife Photography Awards collection 11 book. The grey seal image is part of the animal portrait category and the mountain hare image is part of the animal behaviour category. See below some detail about the images. 

During autumn grey seals come ashore British beaches for the birth of their pups. While the females are giving birth and suckling the pups the males are starting to establish territory to be there when the females become receptive for mating after the pups have been weaned. These two males intended to both control the same area of the beach, resulting in a tussle. 

Mountain hares are an incredibly tough species. I came across this specific individual on top of a plateau in the Scottish mountains. After we reached the plateau we had to first find shelter as the wind and snow drift were too strong to see anything. After some time finally the storm settled down and we had some visibility. Not long afterwards this mountain hare decided to run past as if we weren’t there and nothing had happened. 

See the winners of the 2023 BWPA competition here. To see more of my British wildlife images, click here.

Highly commended in GDT European Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2022

Friday 28 October 2022 GDT announced the winners of the European Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2022 competition. I am extremely honoured that my image - When no one is watching - was recognised in this prestigious competition with a highly commended in the mammals category.

A little bit about the image - On a cold atmospheric spring night I was watching herons and otters at a local pond in Lincolnshire, England. I noticed in the corner of my eye a brown rat scurrying along the edge of the pond each time the herons and otters were out of sight. On one occasion it spotted a dead fish left by a heron, an easy meal for the night.

See the full results of the GDT European Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2022 competition, here. You can see more of my nature and wildlife images from the UK here.