Wildlife Photographer of the year 60 People’s Choice winner

Ian Wood’s “No Access” fought off competition form 24 other images to emerge winner. Residents of St Leonards-on-Sea, on England’s south coast, had been leaving food out on the pavement to encourage foxes, but other urban wildlife had better idea. Ian noticed that badgers living near his house were coming out of forage, passing by a piece of badger graffiti as they did so. As a solitary badger made its way along the pavement glacing around the street, Ian clicked the picture at the right moment. His photo shows the badger, illuminated by a nearby lamppost, seemingly looking up at the graffiti on the wall.

Ian said, “ The outpouring of badger love since my photo was nominated for the People’s Choice Award has been beautifully overwhelming. Finding out that it has won is truly humbling. I live in rural Dorset where I’, on a rewilding mission to enhance habitats for a huge array of wildlife. The badger cull – which is still ongoing – has decimated their numbers and I fear that unless the cull is stopped, we’ll only see badgers in urban settings in several parts of England.”

Ian’s winning image is one of almost 60,000 entries to Wildlife Photographer of the year 60, which highlights the beauty of nature and the challenges it faces.

Other images from the contest include Francisco Negroni’s Earth and Sky displaying a double lenticular cloud hanging over the Villarrica volcano in Chile and Edge of Night by Jess Findlay, an action shot showing a ghosly barn owl leaving a derelict barn to hunt.

Images from the competition on display in Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition in London until 29 June 2025.