This stunning photo of a barnacle-encrusted football took the top prize at the 2024 British Wildlife Photography Awards.
The award, in its 12th year, showcases Britain’s nature, from its woodlands and wetlands to other ecosystems.
Ryan Stalker, who took the winning image, said that the goose barnacles attached to the football are not a native to the UK but sometimes wash up on its shores during Atlantic storms.
“Although the ball is waste and should not be in the sea, I do wonder about the journey the ball has been on. From initially being lost, then spending time in the tropics where the barnacles are native and perhaps years in the open ocean before arriving in Dorset,” he said in a press release.
