Photographic Competition

We welcome entries across the year, with the winners chosen in the autumn. Prize-winners receive book tokens from Summerfield Books, and we'd like to thank them for their ongoing support of the Photo Competition.

Full details of the competition rules can be found here.

The categories in 2024 were:

• Intrepid: finding plants in wild places - our winner was Bog Pondweed (Potamogeton polygonifolius), Bowscale Tarn, Cumberland, by Thomas Garner
• Inquisitive: up close with diagnostic features - our winner was Lords-and-Ladies (Arum maculatum), Blackdowns, VC5, by Liz Downey
• Inclusive: sharing plants with others - our winner was Sharing Meadow Flora, Brownsham, Devon, by Mary Breeds

The categories are based on our organisational values, that we hope are shared by our members and supporters. We received many fantastic entries.

The categories in 2023 were:

• Plants in the Landscape - our winner was Bert Barnett, with an image of Yellow Mountain Saxifrage (Saxifraga aizoides) in Fisherfield
• Plants and People - our winner was Philippa Swann, with an image of Sneezewort (Achillea ptarmica), taken in Perthshire

The four categories in 2022 were Flowers in the Four Seasons: winter, spring, summer & autumn. Our winners were Alwyn Craven, with a picture of Hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium), and Gillian Elsom, with three fantastic photos of  Wood-sorrel (Oxalis acetosa), Fly Orchid (Ophrys insectifera) & Autumn Lady's-tresses (Spiranthes spiralis).

The winners of the 2020 BSBI Photographic Competition were ‘Broad-leaved Willowherb (Epilobium montanum), Fife’ in the Native plants category by Alison Davies and ‘Canary Grass (Phalaris canariensis) at Port William, Wigtownshire’ in the Alien plants category by Alan Wake.

At the 2019 BSBI Photographic Competition, the winner in the Native plants category was “Marsh Cinquefoil (Comarum palustris), Millport” by Heather Kelly and the winner in the Alien plants category was “Borage (Borago officinalis), Colyton”, by Boots Hackman.

The winner in the Plants & People 2018 category was “Learning from Mum - Hannah's meadow, Teesdale” by Heather Kelly and the winner in the Plants & Pollinators category was “Argogorytes wasp on Fly Orchid (Ophrys insectifera), Wakerley Wood, Northamptonshire” by Pete Stroh.

The winners of the 2017 BSBI Photographic Competition were Chris Jeffree whose photograph of Henbane (Hyoscyamus niger) at Lindisfarne was the most popular in the ‘Archaeophyte’ category and Heather Kelly whose photograph of Greater Knapweed (Centaurea scabiosa) on the Fife coast won the ‘Plants in the Landscape’ category.

In 2016, the winner of the ‘Rare Species’ category was Norwegian Mugwort (Artemisia norvegica) on Cul Mor by Simon Harrap and the winner of the ‘Common Species’ category was Tall Bog Sedge (Carex magellanica) in Mid-Perthshire by Bill Boyd.

In 2015, we had four categories, Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter.

The winners were:

Spring: Great Horsetail Equisetum telmateia at Pease Dean Woods by Sarah Eno.

Summer: "Hanging around" by Cathy McKirdy.

Autumn: Spear Thistle Cirsium vulgare seedhead by Ian Strachan.

Winter: Teasel Dipsacus fullonum, Dinnet, by Ian Francis.