This is the third of my blog posts about last month’s trip to London. Following our visit to Banksy: Limitless in the morning, and a bit of lunch, we strolled around to the Natural History Museum for their Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition.
The exhibition displays the top 100 entries for the competition. The gallery is dimly lit, with all of the photographs displayed in lightboxes to make them really stand out. They’re split by category, and show the winning entry in each category alongside those highly commended by the judges. Each photograph also has a bit of blurb about where it was taken, and the lengths that the photographer took to get the shot. In some cases, these photographs took weeks or even months of planning. You also get to see which model of camera was used, the lenses and camera settings used to take the photograph.
The two winners of Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2025 were announced in October, a couple of days before the exhibition opened. There’s an overall winner, and a separate winner for under-18s. Both winning photographs are then displayed on bigger lightboxes at the end, and there are video interviews with the winners and the judging panel.
Whilst the Natural History Museum offers free entry, this exhibition is a paid add-on. Tickets start at £15.50 each for adults at off-peak times – we went on a Friday so paid this lower rate. Full-price tickets are £18 for adults, payable at weekends and weekdays during school holidays. You have until mid-July to see this year’s photos.
Evolution Garden
This was the first time we’d been to the Natural History Museum since 2022, and so it was the first time we’ve seen the new Evolution Garden. The museum used to be surrounded by grass lawns at the front, but one of these has been replaced with something rather more biodiverse. As you walk through the garden, you can see various fossils, showing (briefly) how life evolved over millions of years. The planting fits the theme, with ferns playing the role of ancient plants that would have been common the time of the dinosaurs.
It’s a good improvement to an under-utilised area. As well as being better for biodiversity, it supports the museum’s role in education, and is easily accessible even if you don’t want to go into the museum itself.
Pokemon Pop-up Shop
If you can make it to the museum before the 19th April, there’s a Pokemon Pop-up Shop. You need to book a timed ticket to go in, and these aren’t normally available to book online. We didn’t manage to get a ticket when we went, unfortunately.
Accessibility
All of the museum’s entrances are accessible, and wheelchair access to all parts of the museum should be achievable. Disabled toilets are available, but you’ll need to go next door to the Science Museum for a Changing Places toilet.
South Kensington is the nearest tube station, and there’s a tunnel link to the Evolution Garden from the ticket hall. Knightsbridge, on the Piccadilly Line, is the nearest step-free tube station.
