We are very pleased to announce the winner of the Barry Wells Young Photographer of the Year Competition. Well done Florence!
Our winner is Florence Brookes aged 8 who goes to Castel Primary School! She entered last year and has always been interested in nature. From earthworms to bugs and butterflies, she’s always been fascinated and entered her photo just for the fun of it. Although Florence didn’t realise it at the time, she has won £500 to spend on whatever she likes. Maybe it will be a new camera?
Florence’s photo of a Speckled Wood butterfly caught the eye of all our judges. It’s good to see butterflies get recognition, as they are excellent and important pollinators. We always tend to think bees, but moths, flies, butterflies all have their role to play. And it’s good to see the butterfly on an Echinacea from a garden demonstrating the important role that gardens have in supporting our pollinators, especially later in the summer when these cone flowers are still flowering and often our native flowers are wilting or have set seed already.
The contrasting chocolate brown of the butterfly contrasting with the bright pink of the flower caught our attention and the close focus on the butterfly allowing everyone to see the detail of its antennae, front legs and if you look closely even its tongue probing for nectar. The hairiness of its body contracts with the tiny flat scales on the wings that reflect light to give it its unique colouration.
The Speckled Wood? It’s a native butterfly and is doing relatively well in the face of climate change. Often found at the edge of woods or scrub it loves dappled sunshine and is happy to fly even in overcast conditions when most butterflies are not on the wing. Males are quite territorial and will defend an area whereas females flit wherever the fancy takes them. They feed from the flowers, sucking up nectar but will also suck up honeydew-the waste product from aphids which we normally think of as food for ants.
You’ll be lucky to see the Speckled Wood at this time of year, a few might overwinter, and you might have seen them feeding on ivy flowers right into November. Most adults have died off by December, but their eggs, larvae and pupae are out there close to the caterpillars’ food plants which include grasses like Yorkshire Fog and Annual Meadow Grass. Often the first butterfly to emerge in the Spring it’s also the last to be seen.
We had photos of all sorts of pollinators for the 2026 competition, bees, butterflies, moths, flies and more. We are very grateful to Barry’s family who allowed donations in his memory to be used for the sponsorship of this award and also to Guernsey Arts for organising and running the Bailiwick Wildlife Photographers Exhibition and their sponsor Mourant.
