Annual photography competition

Highly commended in the Wildlife Close Up category by Mark Cox

Photography is a great way to capture a moment and to get outside and connect with nature, and to celebrate this we host a photo competition each year.

When you enter, you have the chance to have your photo featured on our social media, 2025 calendar, and more! The GWT 2024 calendar featured some of your amazing finalist photos from last year's competition.

The 2024 photography competition is now open to camera and mobile entries, find out more and enter here.

Last year we shook it up with some new categories and twists on the classics. Adults could enter macro moments, connecting to nature, comedy snaps, my favourite nature reserve and wildlife encounters, while budding photographers aged 16 or younger took part in the wild youth category.

Thank you to everyone that has entered our previous years photo competitions - there have been some truly incredible submissions. Take a look at the galleries of entries below, they'll be sure to inspire you to grab your camera and head outside.

Click the (i) icons to find the image credit, or on the photos themselves to find comments from the judging panel and where the photo placed in the categories.

See the 2023 competition finalists

Wildlife photography best practices

Be careful with using flash
Lots of cameras and phones will automatically turn flash on when the light conditions decrease, so be mindful of this before taking photos. Wildlife can be very sensitive to light, and many can be scared or even temporarily blinded by the sudden flash of light. If the light conditions aren’t good, a night vision camera is your best bet.

Be mindful of where you are walking
It is best to stick to designated paths or tracks when out on our reserves to minimise any damage to habitats or disturbing wildlife that are used to no footfall in their patch.

Keep a low profile
Keep your distance and don't get too close - this is especially important when the wildlife you are photographing has any young with them.

Are you photographing a protected species?
If you are looking to photograph and specific species, look up its protected status before heading out. There are laws that protect certain species, disturbing them during breeding seasons can impact their success rate of raising young and can be seen as a criminal offence.

Don't use lures
Avoid use food to bait wildlife into coming closer, playing calls to birds, or similar behaviour. Just be patient and quiet and the wildlife will come to you!

Remember, the welfare of the wildlife should come first.

Dragonfly (c) Mark Cox

2022 galleries

Check out this year's entries!
If you didn't place this year, don't be discouraged - you may see your pictures elsewhere on the website, in our newsletters, on social media and more.

The category winners

Congratulations to:
Overall winner, Chris Newton
Wild youth winner, Hope
Comedy snaps winner, David Adamson
Connecting to nature winner, Amy Gatley
Macro moments winners , Roger Cope and Stuart Williams
My favourite nature reserve winner, David Elder

Barn owl in flight (c) Chris Newton

Pond skaters skating into the danger zone of a toad

Skating into danger (c) David Adamson

'Happiness is' (c) Amy Gatley

Marbled white butterfly at Daneway Banks

Marbled white (c) Roger Cope, Daneway Banks

Brimstone butterfly (c) Stuart Williams

Coombe Hill at dawn (c) David Elder

'A breast burst of colour' (c) Hope

The runners up and highly commended entries

Congratulations to Tim Adams, Ian Bishop, Katherine Boon, Claire Cohen, David Elder, Penny George, Ritchie George, Sophie Harris, Rachel Hayward, Thomas Hill, William Lambourne, Rose Lennard, Sam McStravick, Alfie Owen, Caroline Richardson and Stuart Williams.

Child with marsh fritillary butterfly on finger

Child with marsh fritillary butterfly (c) Caroline Richardson

Dew-covered self-heal flowers (c) Penny George, Horsbere Brook

Newly emerged six-spot burnet moth at Daneway Banks (c) David Elder

Pink nymph grasshopper (c) Penny George, Barrow Wake

Damselflies (c) Stuart Williams

Woorgreens (c) Rachel Hayward

Coombe Hill (c) Ritchie George

Hare portrait (c) Claire Cohen

Wren singing (c) Katherine Boon

Cygnets at Cannop Ponds (c) Tim Adams

Water vole (c) Tim Adams

'Slow loving in the Cotswolds, Roman style’ (c) Rose Lennard

Hares boxing (c) Thomas Hill

A squirrel peering at a deer taking a drink

Fox (c) Sophie Harris, 'Licking of the lips'

Skylark at Cleeve Hill Common (c) William Lambourne

Jumping spider (c) Alfie Owen, PC2022

Fungi (c) Sam McStravick

Meadow pipit at Cleeve Hill common (c) William Lambourne

And then he said... (c) Aleksander Domanski

2021 galleries

Throughout the lockdowns and reopenings, many of us continued to explore the wild places of Gloucestershire. There were many fantastic entries this year, with the Wildlife Close Up category being especially popular.
Click the (i) icons to find the image credit, or on the images themselves to find out more about the photo, comments from the judging panel, and where the photo placed in the categories.

The category winners

Congratulations to:
Overall winner, Aleksander Domanski
Wildlife close up winner, Mike Barby
On your doorstep winners, Mark Halling and Aleksander Domanski
Juniors winners, William Lambourne and Alfie Owen
My Wild Life winner, Kate Young
Out on the reserves winner, Adam Smith

And then he said... (c) Aleksander Domanski

Gull (c) Mike Barby

Winter landscape at Barrow Wake (c) Adam Smith

Three goldfinches feeding on a bird feeder

Goldfinches (c) Mark Halling

Childhood memories (c) Kate Young

Thrush (c) William Lambourne

House spider on hand lit with green light

Creature of the night (c) Alfie Owen

The runners up and highly commended entries

Congratulations to Jasmine Bell, Mark Cox, Aleksander Domanski, Sophie Harris, William Lambourne, Tony Rogers, Julia Sharpe, Sophie Shone, Terry Stevenson, Anthony James Wojcik and Kate Young.

Cuckoo flowers at dawn (c) Mark Cox

Garden wildlife (c) Kate Young

green spider curled up between two leaves

Time to go green (c) Anthony James Wojcik

Two large blue butterflies mid courtship flight

Large blue courtship flight (c) Tony Rogers

Marbled white butterflies (c) Sophie Shone

Marbled whites (c) Sophie Shone

Crab tree hill (c) Terry Stevenson

Short-eared owl at dusk (c) Aleksander Domanski

I now know why my watering can wouldn't pour! (c) Julia Sharpe

A friendly face (c) Sophie Harris

Snail inspection (c) Sophie Shone

Oops a daisy! (c) Jasmine Bell

Fly (c) William Lambourne

Runner up of Wildlife Close up - Large blue butterfly by Terry Stevenson

2020 galleries

In 2020, lots of us headed outside to appreciate our local wild places as we went into lockdown, and we saw over 500 entries into the photo competition. The judges were so impressed with the calibre of bird photos submitted across the categories that they created a whole new category for that year - Birds of Gloucestershire.

The category winners

Congratulations to:
Birds of Gloucestershire winner, Russell Discombe
Wildlife close up winner, Michael Sensier
On your doorstep winner, Jamie Harvey
Juniors winner, Theo Stowell
My Wild Life winner, Jo Lawrence
Out on the reserves winner, Katherine Boon

barn owl (c) Russell Discombe

A grasshopper peeking from behind a ox-eye daisy

Peek-a-boo! (c) Michael Sensier

fox (c) Jamie Harvey

Reed warbler (c) Theo Stowell

woodland walking (c) Jo Lawrence

katherine boon -corvid-sunset-slimbridge-

The runners up and highly commended entries

Congratulations to Dave Abraham, Annelliese Ball, Paul Bennell, Joshua Bond, Harry Burgess, Susan Cook, Mark Cox, Russell Discombe, David Edwards, Tom Edwards, Esther Freeman, Rhea Gray, Alasdair Hills, Ben Hirst, Kitty Juggins, Jonathan Mercer, Chris Newton, Alfie Owen, Lucy Pullin, Sue Sharp, Emily Sherwood, Adam Smith, Terry Stevenson, Eden Tanner, Alexander Watts and Hugo Whately.