Enjoy a selection of this year’s winning images from the Natural History Museum competition that showcases some of the best nature photography on the planet
The golden horseshoe
Grand Title Winner: Laurent Ballesta, France
A tri-spine horseshoe crab moves slowly over the mud off Pangatalan Island in the Philippines, accompanied by a trio of juvenile golden trevallies poised to snatch edible morsels ploughed up by its passage. This image is part of a collection called The Ancient Mariner, which also won Laurent the 2023 Portfolio Award. The tri-spine horseshoe crab has survived for more than 300 million years, and now faces habitat destruction and overfishing for food and for its blood, used in the development of vaccines. But here, in the protected waters off Pangatalan, there is hope for its survival.
Birds of the midnight sun
Winner, Urban Wildlife: Knut-Sverre Horn, Norway
From his vantage point inside an abandoned fish-processing factory in Vardø, Troms og Finnmark, Knut-Sverre kept watch on a pair of black-legged kittiwakes tending to their chicks on a windowsill. As midnight approached, the low summer sun struck the north-facing window, sharpening the birds’ silhouettes and giving him the image that he wanted. Kittiwakes naturally nest on the narrow ledges of high, steep coastal cliffs, but some are moving into urban areas due to shortages of food caused by warming oceans and pollution.
Lights fantastic
Winner, Behaviour, Invertebrates: Sriram Murali, India
Sriram combined 50 19-second exposures to show the firefly flashes produced over 16 minutes in the forests of the Anamalai Tiger Reserve, Tamil Nadu. The flashes start at twilight, with just a few appearing here and there, before the frequency increases and they pulse in unison like a wave across the forest. Fireflies are beetles and famously attract mates using bioluminescence, so darkness is key to their reproductive success. Light pollution affects many nocturnal creatures, but fireflies are especially susceptible.
Whales making waves
Winner, Behaviour, Mammals: Bertie Gregory, UK
The view from above as a pod of orcas prepares to wave-wash a Weddell seal. To track down his subjects, Bertie embarked on two month-long expeditions around the Antarctic Peninsula. “We spent every waking minute on the roof of the boat, scanning,” he says. After battling high winds and freezing conditions, he captured this remarkable behaviour with a drone. Thes
