UPY 2025

UPY  British Waters Compact - Commended
'Friends and anemones'
Tony Reed

I have been photographing and logging numbers of the Periclimenes sagittifer at Babbacombe for several years for Seasearch. The numbers of these have been rising and in 2022 there were more than I had ever seen in the Bay. I made my way to the the area known as "the gardens" and found a nice big Anemone with a good sized Shrimp sitting on the top. After about 20 minutes it was quite settled and it was curious about the camera and light so it came out a bit further for a look. I took several photos (about 100) as there was a tiny bit of movement in the water and did not want to leave with not having an acceptable image. These really are beautiful little critters and I love seeing them on a dive.

Judge's comment: These delicately coloured, almost exotic for British waters, critters are not easy subjects on such a confusing and similar coloured background but selective focus and good composition did a good job here.
Peter Rowlands