Scottish Seabird Photography Competition

Our judges have chosen their winners... Now you can decide who our overall winner is, taking home £200 worth of Opticron vouchers and a FREE space on a 2026 Bass Rock landing trip!

Visit the exhibition and then vote for your favourite here.

The Judges' Winners

Common Guillemots on the Isle of May by Iain Donnachie

Razorbill on the Isle of May by Anwen Whitehead

For this competition we were looking for images of any of the 23 seabirds that breed in Scotland each year. These include: Atlantic puffins, Northern gannets, razorbills, common guillemots, black guillemots, kittiwakes, herring gulls, great black-backed gulls, lesser black-backed gulls, common gulls, black-headed gulls, Arctic terns, common terns, little terns, sandwich terns, fulmars, European storm-petrels, Leach’s storm-petrels, Manx shearwaters, shags, cormorants, great skuas, and Arctic skuas.

The best image of each seabird species is now displayed in an exhibition in our harbour space, next to the boat office in our Winter Exhibition. The best images from this selection are also included in our 2026 Scottish Seabird Calendar which will be used to raise funds for our vital conservation and education work.

(c) Jamie McDermaid

The Judges

We were thrilled to have two very special judges on side to help us choose the winners; zoologist, wildlife TV presenter, author and our Seabird Ambassador Megan McCubbin; and Wildlife Photographer of the Year winner, Bird Photographer of the Year portfolio winner and seabird photographer Rachel Bigsby. Helping them with the selection were our Senior Conservation Officer Emily Burton and Jamie McDermaid our talented resident photographer Communications Officer.

The Prizes

• Overall winning image chosen by the Seabird Centre members and visitors will receive £200 worth of Opticron vouchers and a FREE space on a 2026 Bass Rock landing trip! If the winner is under 16 they will receive free tickets for an Isle of May landing trip for themselves and an accompanying adult.
• The Judges winners in both age categories will win £150 worth of Opticron vouchers and a free ticket on a catamaran boat trip around the Bass Rock on a date of their choosing in 2026.
• Seabird species category winners will be shown in our 2025/26 Seabird Photography Exhibition.
• The best images from the category winners are included in our 2026 Scottish Seabird Calendar which will be used to raise funds for our vital conservation and education work.

The Terms and Conditions

• Photographs entered must be taken in Scotland. Photographs taken in the last 5 years can be submitted.
• Images submitted for judging should be no more than 3MB.
• Entrants can submit up to ten photos in total (in landscape orientation, in order to fit calendar specifications, and as JPEGS) to the competition website. To enter your photos, you will need to send them via WeTransfer (or any other transfer service) to photos@seabird.org.
• All entries must include the species, date and location the photograph was taken, the name of the photographer. Please indicate the age of the entrant if under 18.
• A £5 recommended donation for each entrant is in place. However, if finances are a barrier to you entering the competition please contact us on info@seabird.org.
• Photos taken on or before 31/12/19 will not be eligible.
• The deadline for sumbissions is 29 August 2025.
• Read the full terms and conditions here.

Thanks to Opticron for supporting this competition.