Beautiful butterfly and toadstool win National Park’s photo competition for young people

The contest this year celebrated the 15th anniversary of the National Park and asked children to submit images of their favourite aspects of the South Downs.

Portsmouth youngster Jaxon Head, eight, wowed judges with his amazing photograph of a Small Copper butterfly on a flower.

He said: “The butterfly kept flying around and I waited for it to sit still on a flower, then I took the photo.

“I like the South Downs woods and there is a lot of nature in it."

Meanwhile, in the category for older children, Eirinn Matthews, 12, who lives near Arundel, impressed judges with the intricate detail and aspect of her photograph called “Quite The Fungi”.

Eirinn’s dad Jasper Matthews said: “She seemed to think that toadstools are commonly feared but also rarely viewed from below so wanted to see what a small mushroom the size of her hand looked like from ground level. On the day in question she asked to borrow my phone and disappeared over to a fallen tree for a few minutes and came back with that snap!

“Eirinn is fortunate enough to have her school overlooking the South Downs so knows how pretty it can be year-round. At weekends we normally go and find a new trail with our enormous dog Atlas!”

Jaxon has won a family trip to Marwell Zoo and Eirinn has won a Go Ape adventure.

Jakob Komaier-Peeters, 16, was highly-commended in the competition for his image of a goldcrest – the UK’s smallest bird. Arthur Knipe, seven, was also highly-commended for his photograph of sheep on the downland with Belle Tout lighthouse in the background.