Wild Snaps 2023| Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust

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!

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.

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

Bird with a black head, brown back, black throat with a white half-collar, and orange-red breast illuminated by golden sunlight looking curiously down at the wooden post it is perching on.

Ray Fox - Stonechat - Adult Camera Category. Taken next to the m25 maple cross (Stonechat)

A dark brown and black dragonfly in sharp focus facing the camera head on. It has pale blue spots and yellow flecks all along the body, dark blue eyes, and pale yellow-and-blue patches on the thorax.

Stuart Fox - Migrant Hawker - Adult Camera Category. Migrant Hawker in flight at Amwell Nature Reserve. Canon R5 with 100mm to 500mm lens. Slightly cropped image. Main challenges were using a high enough shutter speed to freeze the action as well as focussing quickly enough. Also finding a position to obtain a neutral background and taking many shots to get one "head on".

A very small, stocky deer, the muntjac deer is about the same size as a medium dog leaping across a field of green grass. It is gingery-brown, with a pale underside, darker stripes in its face, and small, single-pointed antlers.

Josh Lawrence - Muntjac Deer - Adult Camera Category. A Muntjac Deer spotted jumping across a field in Cold Christmas (Hertfordshire).
Taken on a Canon EOS 6D Mark II with a Canon EF 75-300mm lens.
Some light touch editing applied to the photograph.
Challenges: quickly spotting the deer and getting the camera settings correct before it stopped jumping!

Two medium-sized, white butterfly, with delicate black-chequered markings sitting on a green-grey plant bud that matches the colour of the butterflies' bodies. They are diagonally opposite each other which creates a symmetrical effect.

Simon Peters - Marbled White Butterflies - Adult Camera Category. This photo was taken at Rickmansworth near Stockers Farm. There were a number of various butterflies around but I was extremely lucky to see these two marbled whites settled on this seed head. They were quite still and i was able to get quite close very slowly with my 105mm lens and get a beautiful bokeh background.

A small bird with a black, white and pink back, a white head with a wide, black eyestripe, a pale pink belly and a very long black and white tail. It is perching on a bramble against a dark background with a fly in its beak.

Henrietta Buxton - Long-tailed tit - Adult Camera Category. I watched both the adults feeding young deep in a bramble bush. I like the clean dark background of this image and well as seeing the detail of the LTT. This photograph was taken in Wareside with a Canon R5. Simple edit of crop, auto colour and sharpening.

Brown bird with a white throat balancing precariously on an ear of wheat its wings and tail are outstretched as if it has either just landed of is about to take off.

Henrietta Buxton - Whitethroat - Adult Camera Category. Whitethroat on a Wheatear
This photo was taken by chance as I was watching little birds fly out of a hedge onto crop and back again. I like the balancing act!
This photograph was taken in Wareside with a Canon R5. Simple edit of crop, auto colour and sharpening.

Two young birds of prey in flight against a clear blue sky. Both have wings outstretched, displaying the striped undersides and one is directly above the other; the higher one is looking down at the lower falcon who is looking up with an expression of panic.

Patrick Wainwright - Peregrine Falcon Fledglings - Adult Camera Category. I took this photo of battling Peregrine Falcon brothers in the grounds of St Albans Cathedral. I was keen to photograph aerial interactions between the fledglings but flight is tiring for these younger birds and my visits to the Cathedral kept coinciding with extended periods of rest and the odd solo flight to/ from a tree. I put a large number of visits in and eventually, this shot came together in the early evening as two fledglings took to the sky, noisily shrieking and chasing each other. I really enjoy the opportunity to see the fledgling's markings so clearly, along with the pleasing symmetry of the image. The edit included cropping as well as light adjustments to shadows, highlights, blacks and whites to replicate what I saw through the viewfinder. I have also reduced noise in the image. Gear: Canon R5 body and Canon RF 100-500MM F4.5-7.1 L IS USM lens.

A small, light orange butterfly, with one eyespot on each forewing, the underside of its hindwings is browny-grey in colour. It is in sharp focus revealing the hairs on its wings and its incredibly fluffy grey body.

Jeff Jones - Small Heath - Adult Camera Category. Small Heath butterfly. The smallest of our brown butterflies and well known to be difficult to get close enough to photograph. June 2023. Edge of wheat field, St Albans. Pentax X-5 bridge camera. Cropped image.

A medium-sized, white butterfly, with delicate black-chequered markings sitting facing right with wings half open on an equally delicate looking green plant.

Julie Cawthorpe - Marbled White - Adult Camera Category. Marbled white, Therfield Heath near Royston Herts. Early morning before the butterflies were too active.Nikon D850 Macro 105 macro lens. Fill flash. slight adjustment to white balance in post processing.

A white heron with black legs and yellow feet flying over a clear lake with the tips of its feet lightly dragging across the surface creating ripples in the smooth reflective surface.

Christine Holt - Egret - Adult Camera Category. This was taken at RSPB Rye Meads in Hoddesdon which I visit regularly as it is not far from where I live. Egrets are regular visitors particularly in late summer and early autumn. They wander around in the shallow areas catching small fish but are prone to suddenly taking off particularly if another egret comes towards them. I took this on a calm sunny day and this bird suddenly took off right in front of me so I had to be quick to catch the bird and the reflection. I used Lightroom to adjust the highlights and shadows and Photoshop to take out dust spots and white spots on the water.

A yellow and black fly in sharp focus feeding on the nectar of a light purple pyramid shaped flower.

Christine Holt - Nectaring Tachinid Fly - Adult Camera Category. This was taken in a field near Wormley West End. The tachinid flies are quite large and bristly. They are found in rough vegetation where there are plenty of flowers. I found they were quite numerous in late summer so I had plenty of subjects to photograph but they dart quickly from flower to flower. I needed to get the focus right to make sure the fly was sharp front to back and the background was diffused. I cropped and adjusted the highlights and shadows in Lightroom and checked for dust spots and added some sharpening in Photoshop.

A brown shield shaped bug sitting on the green hand shaped seedpod of an Aquilegia.

Richard Aggus - Shield Bug - Adult Camera Category. Shield Bug was sitting on the stem in the sunshine at St Paul's Walden Bury gardens. I liked the colour combination. It took a while to get a position with a clean background but fortunately it didnt 'wander off'. Taken on OM1 with 90mm equivalent lens and the RAW file was processed in Lightroom &Topaz and cropped slightly to remove a second flower head at the base of the image to preserve the clean look.

Close up of a damselfly early in the morning covered in small droplets of dew. The focus is very sharp and you can see every drop of dew covering its body, blue and black legs and orange-yellow eyes and every hair on its legs and body.

Allan Burrows - Azure Damselfly - Adult Camera Category. Image of Azure Damselfly taken in my garden, Hertford, May 2023
Camera D850, macro lens Tamron 180mm.
Up at 4.30am to capture the dew on the damselfly that I had seen roosting in the garden the previous evening.
15 images stacked in Helicon Focus.
Image cropped levels adjusted in Lightroom.

Bird of prey on a lawn with browner plumage above and grey bars below, spreading its wings out protectively over its freshly caught prey – a newly fledged greater spotted woodpecker who’s red, white and black striped head you can see peeking up from the Sparrowhawk’s grip.

Ian Cumming - Sparrowhawk - Adult Camera Category. Pentax K1 with 300mm DA* f4 at 1/500 sec, f5.6 ISO 1600. Slightly cropped from the full frame.A newly-fledged Great Spotted Woodpecker chick that a Sparrowhawk, which is a relatively regular sighting from our garden, caught on the ground. I was lucky that I saw the strike and that the Sparrowhawk gave me sufficient time to grab the camera, which fortunately had the right lens mounted. I managed 3 frames through the kitchen window before the Sparrowhawk flew off with the chick.

A little round bird that is olive-green above, buff-white below and a yellow crown edged with black - a spec of colour in its bleak white midwinter surroundings. It is sitting within the sharp spikes of a gorse bush covered in thick frost.

Joe Downing - Goldcrest - Adult Camera Category.

Species: Goldcrest,
Location: Maple Cross NR,
Equipment: Canon R7 & RF100-400mm,
Editing: Cropped, brightened and slightly sharpened (all in darktable),

As with all photography of goldcrests they never sit still! I had to follow it for quite a while from bush to bush before it came out into the open.

A diagonal view of a spider's web against a dark background. The light is catching the spider and the web illuminating the spider's brown and white striped legs and lighting rainbows along the threads of its web.

Stephen Smith - Common Garden Spider - Adult Camera Category. I came across this Common Garden Spider on an early morning walk around Stockers Lake nature reserve. The web was quite large and exquisitely side lit by the the low morning light which was extremely contrasty. This required a little editing - highlight reduction of web annd body, then selective sharpening of the spider body. Picture taken with Canon 5D iii and 100-400 Canon Ef lens with 1.4 extender attached.

A bird with a long beak, bright-blue back and metallic copper breast in flight on a hazy summer evening. The background is blurry with spots of different shades of golden light.

Stewart Easterbroook - Kingfisher - Adult Camera Category. I took this photo of the kingfisher darting out of a willow tree at Maple Lodge nature reserve in Rickmansworth in Hertfordshire.. I used a Nikon D500 camera and a little cropped afterwards.

A small mammal chestnut-brown fur, a blunt, rounded nose, small ears, and a furry tail. It is sitting hunched over in a cluster of light green duckweed munching on a grass stem.

Rebekah Weatherhead - Water Vole - Adult Camera Category. Title: Holey Voley Subject: Water Vole (September 2023) Location: Rye Meads, Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire Camera/edits: Taken on a Nikon Coolpix B700 Bridge Camera, with minimal cropping and exposure correction. Description: This Water Vole was snapped at one of the dipping ponds of Rye Meads in Hoddesdon. It took a great deal of patience after multiple failed attempts at getting a clear photograph of these elusive creatures. Getting the vole in focus amongst all the plant-life in the pond was particularly tricky! Eventually I had my chance when this bold individual poked its nose out and started munching on the reed that had been obscuring my view!

A streaky brown and ochre bird, with a crest and a pale belly perching on a fence post against a blurred landscape in the background.

Jenny Hanson- Skylark - Adult Camera Category. Eurasian skylark. Taken at the top of the lavender fields in Hitchin. Usually, you can hear them but not really see them. They are so lovely to listen to. Canon R5, Canon 100-500mm Cropped in as hard to get near again with a bit of brightening.

A young fox peeking its head out of its den (hole in the ground) amongst bluebell flowers.

Liam Hale - Fox Cub - Adult Camera Category. This photograph depicts a young fox cub, after having emerged from it's den. The fox was surrounded by bluebells in an idyllic woodland, an old oak stump sat on top of their den. Taken not far from Hatfield, in the countryside. Camera: Canon 1DX Mki Lens: Canon 500mm f4 Mki Light editing of colours and brightness, nothing major at all. Major challenges included being extremely quiet and considerate of these youngsters. I spent only a small amount of time to get a few photos. Being dead silent the entire time, they had no clue I was ever there! I snuck away when they returned underground. But I had to be extremely still and patient. A challenging but rewarding experience!

An owl with mottled reddish-brown, with a paler underside sitting in a tree in the daytime. It has a big, round head, rounded wings, large, dark eyes, and a dark ring around its face. In its beak is a tiny wren that it has caught.

Liam Hale - Tawny Owl - Adult Camera Category. This photo was taken of an adult tawny owl bringing in food for it's young owlet. The most amazing thing was that it occurred during daylight hours! Myself and a friend built, installed and monitored using remote cameras a tawny owl box on private land we had access to. We do this for many boxes. This particular box had 2 loving and skilled parents who successfully raised 2 owlets this year. After starting their branching phase, I wanted a few photos for record of our owlets. Then one of the parents arrived with food! A magical experience to watch. Taken near Hemel Hempstead. Only light editing including colours and brightness adjustments. Camera: Canon R5 Lens: Canon 500mm f4 Mki Challenges included the terrible weather that evening (on and off rain) and being extremely still, hidden and quiet whilst I watched the young owlet in the tree. Then being even more quiet when the parent arrived with food. Not to mention being bitten alive by the bugs coming off the wet ground! But still a very rewarding experience, one I will never forget.

A close-up in sharp focus of a fluffy orange and black bee collecting pollen at a white flower.

Simon Amphlett - Bee - Adult Camera Category. Honeybee on cosmos flower. Taken in Gaddesden Row. Taken with a Nikon D850 and a Sigma 105mm Macro lens. Editing was highlights down and shadows up to allow the details of the bee to be shown. Struggle in this picture is getting the bee in focus at such a close proximity.

A fluffy black baby bird with a red forehead, yellow-tipped red beak and thick legs with enormous feet standing on wooden decking.

Simon Amphlett - Moorhen Chick - Adult Camera Category. This is a moorhen chick taken at the Gadespring Watercress beds in Boxmoor. There were 32 moorhen chicks counted at this location, only 2 are reported to have survived. Taken with a Nikon D300 and a Sigma 150-600mm lens. Editing involved basicc exposure compensations and reduced highlights and increased shadows. Some denoise was used as the camera used here does not work well at higher ISO levels.

Two golden-brown rabbit-like mammals with a pale bellies and white tails 'boxing' in the rain. Both animals’ eyes are shut and water droplets fly from their fur as they fight.

James Goodman - Hares - Adult Camera Category. Wild brown hare boxing in the rain taken with my Canon R6 Mk 2. Hertfordshire. It took me four months to get this shot. Wild brown hare are totally unpredictable, and as our quickest mammal (up to 40 mph) make this moment very difficult to capture.

An owl with a mottled silver-grey and buff back, and a pure white underside in flight during the daytime. It has a distinctive heart-shaped, white face, and black eyes.

Robert Kitchen - Barn Owl - Adult Camera Category. Barn Owl at RSPB Rye Meads. A pair of barn owls had been roosting in nest boxes at Rye Meads and had taken to flying before dusk over the meadow in front of the lapwing hide. I wanted a shot with the context of the pylons included and the bird lit by the setting sun which meant waiting on the boardwalk and hoping the bird would fly before the reserve closed. It took two or three visits before one obliged. The image has been cropped from the original and small adjustments made to saturation, hue and contrast. Camera Canon R5, lens 100-500 @ 472 mm

A bird with a long beak, bright-blue back spotted with flecks of lighter blue and metallic copper breast in sharp focus shaking off droplets of water as it perches on a stick.

Barry Lockwood - Kingfisher - Adult Camera Category. This image of Male kingfisher was taken at Rye Meads nature reserve on the 19th of may in the Kingfisher hub, he had just dived in to the water after dinner without success, the light was just perfect, The image was edited in lightroom,

A medium-dog sized mammal with orangey-red above, white below, with black tips to the ears, dark brown feet and a white tip to the bushy, orange tail in a meadow lit by golden summer evening sunlight.

Mark Smith - Fox - Adult Camera Category. Taken in May 2023, at Welwyn Garden City. This is a littermate of my other photo, exploring in the other direction. He/she didnt see me, which made the photo, taken through wold flowers, all the more sweater.

Lesley Fidell - Bee - Adult Camera Category. A bee on my Ceanothus plant in my back garden in Watford. Taken on my Nikon D7500 with my 105mm Macro lens.Very little editing other than adjusting exposure, shadows and highlights, sharpness etc in lightroom

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.

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.

Tom Hanner - Award-winning filmmaker, photographer and naturalist

Tom is an award-winning photographer, filmmaker and naturalist, recently nominated at numerous international film festivals including JACKSON WILD, the nature equivalent to the Oscars©. Though he specialises in shark & ray ecology as a marine biologist, he has been fortunate enough to work around the world including studying the wildlife of the Galapagos Islands and humpback whales off the coast of Mozambique.

Having worked for National Geographic and the BBC Natural History Unit, Tom believes that a hopeful, more optimistic way of storytelling is the key to successful engagement with conservation. He is determined to use his camera to represent the underrepresented and show that there is a way to protect the planet.

Jeanette Lendon of Jet Black Squares

Jeanette (Jet), started her working life as a primary school teacher in the East End of London before retraining as a photographer in 2006. She ran her own photography business for many years, specialising in corporate and commercial photography. Jet realised that there was a gap in the market for showing people how to get their own great shots, simply by using their smartphone cameras, and the idea of smartphone photography workshops was born. Initially, Jet ran these alongside her traditional photography business and on 1st April 2020, she rebranded to Jet Black Squares. Jet has now hung up her ‘big’ camera for good, and solely runs smartphone photography masterclasses for corporate and personal clients all over the country. Jet Black Squares can now be found across the UK, with Associates in the Highlands of Scotland, Cornwall, Oxford, York, Winchester, Manchester, Windsor, Watford, Hertfordshire and London.

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.

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

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 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.

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 Photography Competition

Share