15 of the most incredible pictures from the 2023 British Wildlife Photography Awards
Nature’s fierce beauty emerges forcefully from the 2023 British Wildlife Photography Awards. Our Picture Editor Lucy Ford has the pick of the best shots, from a somnolent fox to a hungry buzzard.

Mid- air in a leaden Gloucestershire sky, a buzzard ambushes a barn owl, one talon viciously grabbing the smaller bird, the other making for its prey, a tiny vole.
In an urban wildflower patch, a vixen wakes up from her slumber covered in a fuzz of dandelion seed-heads.
In the Shetlands, a skua — wings spread, beak wide open — looks every inch the pirate on its cliff.
And in a London park, three ducklings snooze peacefully as the metropolis whirls busily around them.
British Nature, in all its charming, red-toothed glory, bursts from the pages of the British Wildlife Photography Awards 11, a book collating the best entries to the 2023 British Wildlife Photography Awards competition.
It is the first time the contest has taken place since covid and the judges had a hard time choosing the winners from more than 13,000 images, which they evaluated not only for skill, creativity and craft, but also, as director Will Nicholls explains, for upholding ‘strict values when it comes to the wellbeing of the subjects’.
The shots are a triumph of wide-eyed sharks, leaping bunnies, fuzzy owlets and seahorses so stern they’d put a headmistress to shame.
Sign up for the Country Life Newsletter
Exquisite houses, the beauty of Nature, and how to get the most from your life, straight to your inbox.
They run the gamut from the majestic — a lone stag silhouetted against snow-capped Highlands, a red kite, flying fierce and undeterred in heavy snow flurry — to the wondrous (an underwater picture of plankton reminiscent of the night sky) and the curious, such as an amphibian threesome in which two male toads try to hitch a lift on the same female or the great bustard that wanders, much like a bewitched tourist, around Stonehenge.
Some photographs issue a stark warning about the fragility of our habitats.
In a shot of great crested grebes courting, the first bird brings a present of pondweed, but the second proffers a piece of plastic, highlighting, as judge David Plummer puts it, ‘our own species’ flagrant disregard for the environment’.
Other pictures show wildlife reconquering urban areas — not least the overall winner, a portrait, by Charlie Page, of a proud fox that saunters with more than a soupçon of arrogance past the pylons of London’s Lee Valley Park.
The images capture moments of intimate beauty, too, sometimes tinged by comic relief: Otterly Relaxed, a dog otter relaxing on shore, hind feet up, nose in the air, is a reminder that Nature brings solace to us all.
‘British Wildlife Photography Awards 11’ is published by Graffeg (www.graffeg.com) at £30. See more about the awards at www.bwpawards.org
-
A rare chance to own a Royston Summers house on Lakeside Drive in Esher
The development won the RIBA Architecture Award in 1976, and is a defining example of the Summers's work.
By James Fisher Published
-
Great Comp: The blissful garden flooded with rhododendrons and azaleas that's just beyond the M25
Each spring, Great Comp Garden — just outside the M25, near Sevenoaks — erupts into bloom, with swathes of magnolias, azaleas and rhododendrons. Charles Quest-Ritson looks at what has become one of the finest gardens to visit in Kent.
By Charles Quest-Ritson Published
-
The King wants YOU: His Majesty's call-to-arms for under-35s across Britain
The King’s Foundation has launched its ‘35 under 35’ initiative — a UK-wide search for ‘the next generation of exceptional makers and changemakers’ who want to work holistically with Nature.
By Amie Elizabeth White Published
-
'A big opportunity for a small, crowded and beautiful country': Fiona Reynolds on how the Land Use Framework can make Britain better
The Government’s Land Use Framework should be viewed as an opportunity to be smarter with our land, but conflicts need to be resolved along the way says Fiona Reynolds, chair of the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission.
By Fiona Reynolds Published
-
Dawn Chorus: A river comes to life, more mews is good mews, and the new 400-mile electric Volvo
Rivers now have the legal right to flow, and to not be full of pollution. It's about time.
By James Fisher Published
-
Dawn Chorus: The perfect job for incurable romantics, Britain's rudest roads, woodland workshops and spring in Cornwall
Living on a near-deserted island, and getting paid for the privilege? No wonder tens of thousands of people were keen.
By Toby Keel Published
-
That hammering you hear? It's actually the sound of Spring
Woodpeckers are guardians of ancient broad-leaved woodlands, busy ecosystem engineers and keen consumers of ant porridge.
By Vicky Liddell Published
-
Curious Questions: Will the real Welsh daffodil please stand up
For generations, patriotic Welshmen and women have pinned a daffodil to their lapels to celebrate St David’s Day, says David Jones, but most are unaware that there is a separate species unique to the country.
By Country Life Published
-
Simon Jenkins: 1,000 miles of giant pylons 'would be the most intrusive invasion of the nation’s rural landscape since the Second World War'
The Government’s plan to cover the countryside in ugly pylons with seemingly no regard for aesthetics must be vigorously challenged
By Simon Jenkins Published
-
Nobody has ever been able to figure out just how long Britain's coastline is. Here's why.
Welcome to the Coastline Paradox, where trying to find an accurate answer is more of a hindrance than a help.
By Martin Fone Published