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.
![](https://www.hlsnewforest.org.uk/app/uploads/sites/3/2020/01/Jewelled-beetle-by-Heather-Stratton.jpg)
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.