This year a large number of common frog tadpoles clustered together in the shallow area of our garden pond for several days after hatching from the frogspawn. They were always wriggling and often surrounded by air bubbles. I was intrigued by the pattern, colour and texture of the tadpoles and the contrast between the tadpoles and the air bubbles and wanted to record this unusual behaviour. I originally established this large garden pond about eight years ago and have regularly photographed the wildlife which has been attracted to the pond over the years. We now have a well-established healthy population of frogs which visit to spawn in early spring each year, along with many species of dragonfly, damselfly, diving beetles and many other insects, grass snakes and newts. Many species of bird also visit the pond and bats are attracted at night by the increased numbers of insects. I visited the tadpoles regularly and tried to photograph them when the wind was light, to avoid ripples on the surface of the water.

Finalist - Wildlife in the Garden