British Ecological Society Photography Awards 2019: Amazing award-winning nature photos
- Published
Overall winner: Red night by Roberto García Roa. This amazing photo was taken in Madagascar. It's a Malagasy tree boa perched in a tree. The Malagasy tree boa is a non-poisonous snake that only lives in Madagascar. Large examples have become difficult to find in some areas surrounding places where humans live. Fires and poaching are some of the threats faced by the snakes.
A side of fries by Nigel Taylor: Highly Commended. The long-tailed macaques at Batu Caves, Malaysia make the most of food and litter that humans have left behind.
Up Close and Personal category winner: Fluorescence by Roberto García Roa. A tiny scorpion glows under UV light in Madagascar. The glow is called fluorescence and is a biological skill that ranges across kingdoms, from bacteria to animals.
People and Nature category winner: Why did the sloth cross the road? by Andrew Whitworth. Andrew said: "I was driving out from the Osa Peninsula, located on the southern Pacific coast of Costa Rica on a dark, stormy day. This female three-toed sloth had luckily just about made it across the road, and the drivers of the Toyota on this occasion had spotted her in good time."
The Art of Ecology category winner: For the love of Flamingos by Peter Hudson. Have you ever seen a cloud of flamingos?! Peter said: This flock was spotted over Lake Magadi in Kenya when Peter took his photo. He said: "Flamingos are all legs and necks but at the same time graceful and fascinating and I admit I have a deep passion for them, so I was thrilled when, flying high over Lake Magadi, I watched this flock form themselves in to a heart shape."
Sleeping Beauty by Katharine Mullin: Highly Commended. Whilst conducting amphibian surveys in the highland rainforests of Madagascar (her area of scientific PhD research), Katherine says she often stumbles across chameleons. It's even more likely at night, she says, when the chameleons sleep on vegetation at her perfect eye and camera height!
Dynamic Ecosystems Category Student Winner: Are you seeing the same as me? by Pablo Javier Merlo. In Argentina a cow and a chimango bird chill out while watching the breathtaking Beagle Channel in the southernmost mountains of the Andes in South America.
Up Close and Personal category student winner: Harlequin by Khristian V Valencia. Khristian took this amazing froggy photo in San Cipriano nature reserve, Colombia. It's a harlequin frog which is actually a species that is facing extinction.
Dynamic Ecosystems category winner: Small warrior by Roberto García Roa. Believe it or not, the subject of the photo isn't the ant but the spider eating it! Roberto said: "Spiders are interesting animals that have evolved different ways (like venom or their webs) to cope with the problem of being smaller than their prey or predators. As an example, this tiny spider I found in Malaysia had captured an ant, whose size was much bigger than the spider."
The Art of Ecology category student winner: Teeny tiny world by Sanne Govaert, taken in Belgium. This tiny mushroom, a Mycena, was growing inside a rotten tree trunk. Due to the conditions inside the trunk, water droplets had formed on the Mycena. Sanne said: "The mushroom feeds on dead wood and litter, so I could move the mushroom attached to the bark so I could easily photograph it."
Overall runner-up: Autumn texture by Mikhail Kapychka. This photo of forest of birch trees in autumn might make your eyes go funny! It was taken in Mogilev region of Belarus.
Overall student winner: Flames in flumes by Nilanjan Chatterjee. Taken in Rishikesh, India, this snap of a plumbeous water redstart shows the bird waiting to catch a fly for a meal. Birds like this need the river but now dams have affected the flow of the river and affected the wildlife.
People and Nature category student winner: Thawing away by Gergana Daskalova. This photo shows a tiny person standing on a land slump on Qikiqtaruk-Herschel Island, Canada. The land shifts caused by these slumps can affect a whole ecosystem.
Ecology in Action category winner: Rhino’s Annual Haircut by Molly Penny. During a stay in South Africa, Molly went to witness the horn trimming of four southern white rhinos. Rhinos have their horns trimmed to help prevent them being hunted and killed by poachers. Molly said: "It was an amazing experience and one I will never forget."
Ecology in Action Category Student Winner: Capturing tundra vegetation change by Gergana Daskalova. Here is a team of researchers using drones to study the environment. They let scientists capture the bigger picture of how climate change is altering ecosystems. It was also taken on Qikiqtaruk-Herschel Island, Canada.
Individuals and Populations Category Winner: Sleeping Still by Felix Fornoff. These may looks like spring rolls but they are really the babies of leafcutter bees in the nests that mother bees make from bits of leaf arranged in layers. The coloured eyes show that the babies aren't far from emerging.
Individuals and Populations category student winner: Watchful by Khristian V. Valencia. Look out! Check out this clouded snake as it studies its prey for dinner. Yikes.
- Published13 November 2019
- Published16 October 2019
- Published18 November 2019
