A big thank you to everyone who entered our ‘Birds – A Space to Thrive’ photography competition 2025.
‘Space to Thrive’ originated from our 2019 policy for managing grassland, following the Councils declaration of a climate and ecological emergency , as a way to share news on how we are ensuring green spaces in Chelmsford provide suitable habitats that support biodiversity and help all wildlife, including birds.
This is the first time we have run this competition and we received some truly amazing images that captured our theme and showcased local birds, their habitats, plus ways we can all support and live alongside our local feathered friends.
There were 10 goody bags up for grabs, with our first and second place winners being awarded extra special prizes. Entrants could submit multiple images, and all images were anonymised prior to judging. To find out what the prizes were and how the competition was judged head to the end of the page.
All our winning entrants can be seen below, please note some of the images have been trimmed slightly to fit the formatting of this page. Cllr Rose Moore, our Cabinet Member for Greener Chelmsford, presented the first and second place winners with their prizes, and had a chance to meet some of our highly commended runners up.
Cllr Rose Moore, Cabinet Member for Greener Chelmsford, said
I love the varied settings, lighting and range of birds celebrated.
We are grateful to all our winners and entrants, and hope this competition has provided some inspiration to get involved in supporting nature networks, to increase biodiversity, and help our local wildlife find a Space to Thrive!
First Place:
‘Family and Friend’ by Karen Mercer
Second Prize:
‘A Touch of Frost’ by Pip Holden
Our 8 highly commended runners up are:
(Images are in no particular order)
‘Goldfinches’ by Peter
‘Love Robin’ by Di Stroud
‘Supper then a bird bath’ by Jon Wade
‘Robin Sunbathing in the Bushes’ by Jon Wade
‘Acrobatic Blackbird on the Fat Balls’ by Jon Wade
‘Lunch with an Old Friend’ by Karen Mercer
‘Blue tit at the window feeder’ by Laura Stevens
‘Fat ball making 3’ by Jesters Childcare
There were so many fantastic entries we were sad they could not all win, below is a small selection of some of the other superb entries! Please don’t be offended if your entry is not shown below, we really did love them all!, we just don’t have enough space to show them on one page.
Numbers are the order images are shown from left to right, this not a ranking order.
Selection of Other Entries:
1 – Happy Family by Mike Cramp
2 – Who ruffled my feathers by Rachel W
3 – About to bust a move!! by Sam Jordan
4 – I’ve Got My Eye On You by Pip Holden
5 – Two Time Blue by Pip Holden
6 – Sparrowhawk by Peter
7 – Unusual visitor by Di Stroud
8 – Great Crested Grebe feed time by David Tebby
9 – Pheasant on the common by Olivia
10 – Mallard Duck by Olivia
11 – My garden birds by Claudia
12 – Welcome Home by Jax
13 – Robin by Olivia
How was it judged?
Once the competition closed all image entries were anonymised and given a reference number.
All anonymised images were reviewed individually by 3 judges, each judge ranked their own top 10, the individual places were then compared and discussed, and the full list of entries were reviewed again, resulting in a narrowed suggested shortlist of 14 images. The short list was discussed with our Cabinet Member for Greener Chelmsford, and the final 10 were confirmed including the images awarded First and Second place.
Judges’ comments:
There were so many wonderful images that encapsulated the competition theme ‘Birds-A Space to Thrive’. It was an extremely challenging process narrowing down just 10 images! Each judge had their own favourites, and there were some amazing images that captured the theme, but ultimately there were only 10 top places.
A big thank you to all the entrants, from the judges and all here at Space to Thrive.
Entry guidance and requirements for this now closed competition, along with details of winning prizes can be seen here: Photo Competition – closed – Love Your Chelmsford
