No Access: Badger’s graffiti glance wins Wildlife Photographer of the Year People’s Choice Award

No Access: Badger’s graffiti glance wins Wildlife Photographer of the Year People’s Choice Award - Natural History Museum

A badger stares at graffiti of a badger on a wall — ©Ian Wood, Wildlife Photographer of the Year

‘No Access’, British photographer Ian Wood’s perfectly timed capture of an ambling Eurasian badger glancing up at some rather familiar graffiti in St Leonards-on-Sea, England, has won the tenth edition of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year People’s Choice Award 2024.

The 25 nominated images for this year's Wildlife Photographer of the Year People’s Choice Award received a record number of votes with over 76,000 wildlife photography and nature fans from around the world voting for their favourite image.

Director of the Natural History Museum, Dr Douglas Gurr, says: “Ian’s flawlessly timed image offers a unique glimpse of nature’s interaction with the human world, underscoring the importance of understanding urban wildlife. His exceptional photograph serves as a powerful reminder that local nature and wildlife, often just outside our homes, can inspire and captivate us.”

After residents of St Leonards-on-Sea, England, had been leaving food scraps on the pavement for foxes, Ian noticed that badgers from a nearby sett were also coming to forage. Having seen a badger walking along the pavement by this wall late one night, he decided to photograph it and set up a small hide on the edge of the road to take his picture. Only the light from a lamppost illuminated the creature as it ambled along.

Ian says: “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. However, there is a darker side to this image. I live in rural Dorset where I’m on a re-wilding 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. My hope is for this image to raise awareness of the damaging effect of the badger cull and help push for change.”