British photographer Henley Spiers won the Bird Photographer of the Year competition and its £3,000 prize with Sunball Rocket, showing a northern gannet diving into Scottish waters. The image highlights the bird’s remarkable hunting technique and speed, reaching up to 86km/h, while capturing the contrast between its nurturing behaviour on land and precision in flight.

More than 24,000 photographs were submitted worldwide. Other recognised images included penguins in Antarctica, a displaying greater sage-grouse, a short-eared owl over Canada, an ostrich crossing Amboseli, urban gulls and several young photographers’ entries; awards covered categories including bird behaviour, conservation, creative photography and black-and-white images.