Sewerby Hall and Gardens hosts Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition on loan from London museum

The Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition, on loan from the Natural History Museum in London, is being hosted at Sewerby Hall and Gardens. It opened last Saturday and will show until July 17.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year is the most prestigious photography event of its kind, providing a global platform to showcase the natural world’s most astonishing and challenging sights for more than 55 years.

It is the third time Sewerby has tried to get the exhibition at the Grade I listed house which shows the widest range of species from across the world and the diversity of wildlife and nature.

Curator of Sewerby Hall and Gardens, Janice Smith, said it was quite a coup for East Yorkshire to host the exhibition.

She said: “This will be the third year that we have been trying to host this exhibition. This will be number 57, we tried to get number 55 then Covid happened. Last year we had intermittent restrictions and could not guarantee that we could be open long enough.

“This has been to Bristol, the National Museum Wales and then little old us – it is quite a coup for East Yorkshire and we are very proud.”

The museum will use the exhibition to collect data from visitors to see whether hosting an event with broader appeal had added to annual visitor numbers and whether it had attracted a new audience and demographic of people.

It is also another example of arts and cultural events being loaned from London-based museums to the rest of the UK. The Yorkshire museum has previously hosted pieces from the British Museum and the National Portrait Gallery.

Ms Smith added: “We like to think we are doing our bit for levelling up, as it were, so you don’t have to go to London, and this is something East Yorkshire can boast for everyone.

“We have visitors and part-time residents, the numbers within Bridlington, East Yorkshire and on the coast swell by unimaginable amounts of people. If we can draw them in that would be great.”

The photographs on offer vary from delicate to daunting and Ms Smith has picked out a few favourites of her own.

She said: “Some of the images, particularly the age 10 and under, you would suggest are from a professional. I particularly like one that looks like a field full of sunflowers but there is a little bird in the middle. There are some quite troubling images of habitats that have been changed by human intervention.”