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The "Silver Gull" competition was held in April-May 2026.  Members could submit up to two of their best images taken during 2025. 

The results of member voting for the top five images in each category are listed here.  This competition received good support from our members, with 127 images entered across the 3 competition levels by 71 photographers.  The Winner is the image which received the most votes; and we also show the next four (or more in case of a tie) highest placed images, rating them as Highly Commended if they received at least 90% of the votes for the winning image, and Commended for scores less than that.

Advanced Level – Silver Gull

This category attracted 52 entries, from 30 photographers.  39 members voted, with the following result:

• Winner - Silver Gull, by Tim Van Leeuwen  (Image ID 74169)
• Commended - Silver Gull, by Chinh Nguyen  (Image ID 74465)
• Commended - Silver Gull, by Natalie Murray (Image ID 74541)
• Commended - Silver Gull, by Cherilyn Corker  (Image ID 74316)
• Commended - Silver Gull, by Graham Gall  (Image ID 74046)

Intermediate Level – Silver Gull

This category attracted 66 entries, from 35 photographers.  40 members voted, with the following result:

• Winner - Silver Gull, by Jonathan Rihan  (Image ID 74504)
• Commended - Silver Gull, White-bellied Sea-Eagle, by Sheila Rowlands  (Image ID 74567)
• Commended - Little Egret, Silver Gull, by Glenda Gore  (Image ID 74428)
• Commended - Silver Gull, by Diana Vine  (Image ID 74571)
• Commended - Silver Gull, by Charlotte Lennox  (Image ID 74180)
• Commended - Silver Gull, by Audrey Haynes  (Image ID 74229)

Entry Level – Silver Gull

This category attracted 9 entries, from 6 photographers.  44 members voted, with the following result:

• Winner - Silver Gull, by Tulsi Aravind  (Image ID 74461)
• Commended - Silver Gull, by Matthew Done  (Image ID 74091)
• Commended - Silver Gull, by Tulsi Aravind  (Image ID 74462)
• Commended - Silver Gull, Lynne  (Image ID 74444)
• Commended - Silver Gull, by Tracey Marsden  (Image ID 74413)
• Commended - Silver Gull, by Lynne  (Image ID 74442)

Our Mystery Reviewers have completed their assessments of the images in each level of the Silver Gull competition; their ratings are as follows:

Advanced Level

• Winner: Greater Crested Tern, Silver Gull, by Tim Van Leeuwen (Image ID 74168)
• Highly Commended: Silver Gulls, by Craig Lakey (Image ID 74217)
• Commended: Silver Gulls, by John Eley (Image ID 74123)
• Commended: Silver Gull, by Natalie Murray (Image ID 74541)
• Commended: Silver Gull, by Mark Lethlean (Image ID 74121)
• Special Mention: Silver Gulls, by Mark Lethlean (Image ID 74122)

Intermediate Level

• Winner: Little Egret, Silver Gull, by Glenda Gore (Image ID 74428)
• Highly Commended: Silver Gull, by Sheila Rowlands (Image ID 74568)
• Highly Commended: Silver Gull, by Julie Mills (Image ID 74546)
• Highly Commended: Silver Gull, White-bellied Sea-Eagle, by Sheila Rowlands (Image ID 74567)
• Commended: Eurasian Coot, Silver Gull, by Alan Shore (Image ID 74404)
• Commended: Silver Gulls, by Neil Coffee (Image ID 74277)
• Commended: Silver Gull, by Maggie Roberts Duffy (Image ID 74433)
• Commended: Greater Crested Tern, Silver Gull, by Hugh Crisp (Image ID 74238)
• Special Mention: Silver Gull, by Diana Vine (Image ID 74571)
• Special Mention: Silver Gull, by Maggie Roberts Duffy (Image ID 74434)

Entry Level

• Winner: Silver Gulls, by Tulsi Aravind (Image ID 74461)
• Highly Commended: Silver Gull, by Tracey Marsden (Image ID 74104)
• Commended: Silver Gull, by Matthew Done (Image ID 74091)
• Special Mention: Silver Gulls, by Tracey Marsden (Image ID 74413)
• Special Mention: Silver Gull, Tulsi Aravind (Image ID 74462)

The Mystery Reviewer Critiques are available in the Resources - Mystery Reviewer Critiques page.  These articles are member-only content.

Graham Cam, one of our very experienced moderators and a regular mentor to those members submitting photos to our galleries, has drawn the following to our attention: 

"Many of our BLP members use Adobe Lightroom Classic to render and apply post-processing edits.  As a Lightroom educator I have produced training videos for our members, but I have discontinued producing these videos as they are extremely time consuming.  There are many options on the internet to enhance your Lightroom skills, many of which require a one-off purchase or a subscription.  Here is a link to a free training video produced by Steve Perry, Backcountry Gallery, on how to use Lightroom masks for bird and wildlife photography.  This 53-minute video is just brilliant and deserves watching until you become proficient."

Watch the video: https://backcountrygallery.com/lightroom-masking-masterclass/

As advised in an email to all members on 19th April, the 2026 Annual General Meeting of BirdLife Photography will be held on Tuesday 19th May 2026, as a Zoom meeting.  Details of the Zoom link were given in that email.  The President's and Treasurer's reports are now available to members, and can be accessed either through the Resources --> Libraries & Documents --> Member Information page, or from the AGM Documents item in the Members Pages menu at the bottom of every page on the website.  You must be logged in to see either of these links.

For those who missed it or would like to view it again, our recent "Creative Photography Redefined Through Digital Art" Zoom event on 8th April is now available.

It can be found at Resources -> Our Zoom Presentations

This is members only - you must be logged in to access this video.

In this presentation, Graham Cam discusses the difference between creative photography - where "creative" is the adjective describing photography - and the emerging field of Creative Photography - a proper noun for this photographic genre.  He gives examples of both, and offers suggestions about using intentional camera movement (ICM) as a way of exploring this.