iHorniman Museum · Forest Hill
British Wildlife Photography Awards
Award-winning British wildlife photography spanning animal behaviour, botanical subjects, urban wildlife and marine life, with captions giving context for each image.
Paul Hobson's winning picture is taken from under a woodland pond in Sheffield, looking up as a toad swims across the surface with tree branches reflected around it. He built a glass box to keep his camera underwater and, in his words, "had to wait quite a long time", because most toads swim below the surface rather than across it.
This is the 2026 British Wildlife Photography Awards on tour, picked from more than 12,000 entries: 72 images and videos across 11 adult categories plus the youth awards. Captions tell each picture's story in the photographer's own words. You go from slime moulds 1mm tall to a cygnet asleep on its sibling's back. That swan picture won the youth prize, and it was taken in Hornchurch, at the far end of the District line, not the Highlands.
It's free, in The Studio off Gallery Square on the lower ground floor, daily 10:00 to 17:30. The museum warns it includes distressing images and information about badger culling.
Look for
The Grand Prize toad
Paul Hobson's black-and-white shot from the floor of a Sheffield woodland pond, a toad crossing the surface above the lens among reflected branches.
Feathery Pillow
Ben Lucas's mute swan cygnet asleep with its head on its sibling's back, shot from a lake bank in Hornchurch, east London.
Slime Moulds and a Water Droplet
Barry Webb's Botanical Britain winner: iridescent slime mould fruiting bodies about 1mm tall on a fragment of wood, wrapped in a single water droplet.
Good for
- Cheap Culture
- Going Solo
- Rainy Days
Skip if
You'd rather avoid distressing images: the museum warns of material on badger culling.
With kids
The museum lists it as suitable for all ages and families, but warns it includes distressing images and information about badger culling.
Also at Horniman Museum
On now nearby
Image credits
5
- British Wildlife Photography AwardsCourtesy of Horniman Museum
- Richard Dadd: Beyond BedlamCourtesy of Royal Academy of Arts
- Serpentine Pavilion 2026 by LANZA atelier© LANZA atelier. Photo: Iwan Baan. Courtesy Serpentine.
- The Wallace Collection at WarCourtesy of Wallace Collection
- Horniman Museumacediscovery / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0