Scottish Seabird Photography Competition

Enter your favourite seabird images to our new Scottish seabird photography competition for the chance to win amazing prizes, with £500 worth of Opticron vouchers up for grabs and a FREE space on a 2026 Bass Rock landing trip!

Scotland is home to internationally important seabird colonies, from the mighty gannets of the Bass Rock to the spectacular puffinries of St Kilda. Over 5 million seabirds breed around our shores each year; and wherever you are along Scotland’s coast the sight and sound of seabirds will be an integral part of your summer seaside experience.

Our new Seabird Photography competition calls on amateur photographers of all ages to capture images that represent Scotland’s amazing seabirds.

The deadline for sumbissions is 29 August 2025.

For this competition we are 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, roseate terns, Arctic terns, common terns, little terns, sandwich terns, fulmars, European storm-petrels, Leach’s storm-petrels, Manx shearwaters, shags, great skuas, and Arctic skuas.

The best image of each seabird species will be displayed in an exhibition in our harbour space, next to the boat office in our Winter Exhibition. The best 12 images from this selection will also be included in our 2026 Scottish Seabird Calendar which will be used to raise funds for our vital conservation and education work.

Top tip: entering a photo of a less-photographed species (i.e. not puffins!) will give you a better chance of featuring in the exhibition and/or calendar!

(c) Jamie McDermaid

The Judges

We’re 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 will be our Senior Conservation Officer Emily Burton and Jamie McDermaid our talented resident photographer and Marking and 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 12 images from the category winners will be 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.