Congratulations to Heather Stratton, the winner of our micro competition!
Heather’s photograph of a rose chafer, entitled ‘Jewelled Beetle’ caught the judges’ eyes for a number of reasons. Striking, vibrant and colourful, it has a clear focus on specific details of one of the New Forest’s micro-species.
Heather took the photo in Bramshaw on a Nikon D56. She said: ‘It was a beautiful hot day and I heard a buzzing near me and there was this amazing beetle on a rose. I had to grab my camera quickly.’ Heather wins a £50 Amazon voucher.
At around 2cm in length, the rose chafer has a beautiful iridescent sheen and is fairly common throughout the New Forest. It’s not to be confused with the rarer noble chafer, which has a more distinct ‘waist’. The rose chafer loves crawling on flowers in the sunshine and can be spotted between May and October.
Stay posted for other fantastic entries to this competition, where we asked photographers (from amateur snappers to professionals) to capture the teeny wonders of the New Forest.