We are delighted to announce the winners of our 2024 Photography Competition.
The competition, sponsored for the first time this year by OM Digital Solutions in association with corporate members Campkins Cameras, attracted over 280 entries across three categories, a wide selection of high quality images taken all around our three counties by supporters of our Trust. The judges were pleased to have a wonderful set of images to choose from to create another fantastic calendar for next year. Thank you to everyone who took the time to enter their photographs.
We are pleased to announce that the overall winner this year is Dave Wesson for his magical image 'Blue Hour Barn Owl' taken at Burwell Fen in Cambridgeshire at dusk, which won the Flora & Fauna category. He bags himself the fantastic top prize of an OM5 camera kit, generously donated by our competition sponsors OM Digital Solutions, in association with corporate members Campkins Cameras. "I’m delighted and humbled that my image was chosen as the winner in this year’s Wildlife Trust BCN calendar competition," says Dave. "Seeing the fantastic images from some brilliant photographers on previous calendars has been inspirational to me and driven me to improve my own photography, so a big thank you to all."
"Seeing the fantastic images from some brilliant photographers on previous calendars has been inspirational to me"
Describing the story behind his winning shot, Dave says: "It was one of those late winter afternoons that photographers dream about: cold without a cloud in the sky and not a breath of wind. I’d travelled to Burwell Fen near Cambridge, my favourite winter location for short eared owls and even though the conditions were perfect, the ‘shorties’ were lying low and not showing themselves. As the sun began to set I surprisingly found myself to be the only photographer left! Just after the sun had dipped below the horizon I spotted a barn owl over the field to my right and it was flying towards me, I couldn’t believe my luck! I managed to take a burst of frames before it banked to its left and flew over the tall bushes and out of sight.
"I was so excited when I checked the images and the thing that immediately struck me wasn’t the owl itself, it was the amazing pastel coloured tones that you only get in the blue hour. The biggest lesson I learned from this encounter is don’t leave too early, especially when presented with those magical conditions for photography. You never know what opportunities await!"
The winner or the People and Nature category is Jana Barbosa with her intriguing photograph of a child holding a glass sphere, a lens ball, which shows the autumn leaves underfoot. Explaining the image, Jana says, "My family and I enjoy walks in our local nature reserves on weekends, with our favourite spots being Beechwoods, Cherry Hinton Chalk Pits, and Waresley & Gransden Woods. In November 2023, I brought my lens ball along for a walk with my little boy. He got excited when he spotted this 'new toy' and started to play with it immediately. I loved how he tried to hold this heavy lens ball in his little hands carefully and how the beautiful yellow leaves around us reflected in it." The photograph was taken in Cambridgeshire.
Dexter Ferguson has won the Youth category for his excellent picture of a tawny owl, taken in a cemetery in Bedford. The Tawny Owl Chick shot was taken last Summer at Bedford cemetery with a Nikon Z6 and Nikon 200-500mm lens. There were three chicks raised in total before they fledged and left the area.
