A captivating image of beavers thriving in the heart of a Polish city has scooped this year’s Rewilding Europe Award, a special category of the European Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. The winning and commended photographs showcase wildlife comeback across Europe — and the growing possibilities for people and wild nature to share space.
Thriving in the city
A nocturnal gathering of beavers against the backdrop of a new housing development in northeastern Poland has been named the winner of the 2026 Rewilding Europe Award, presented by Rewilding Europe in partnership with the German Society for Nature Photography (GDT).
Taken by Polish photographer Jan Wieczorek, “Urban Beavers” captures animals that have lived for years on a river flowing through the city of Olsztyn. Roads and railway lines cross their territory and new apartment blocks are being built nearby, yet — with support from residents and the city authorities — the beavers continue to thrive.
A story of coexistence
Wieczorek, who has watched the animals for around 15 years, deliberately framed the photograph to bring two worlds together. The wetland created by the beavers now supports a wealth of wildlife, while their dams have helped restore the local water balance and improve water quality, demonstrating the essential role that wild nature plays in creating healthy, resilient places for people to live and work.
“The story behind the photograph shows that nature doesn’t always exist somewhere far away. It can thrive right next to our homes, beneath our bridges, and in the centres of our cities. By framing the housing development alongside the wetland created by the beavers, I wanted to show that it is possible for humans and wildlife to share space.”
Celebrating a wilder Europe
The Rewilding Europe Award is a special category within the prestigious European Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, organised by the German Society for Nature Photography. It recognises images that celebrate the comeback of wild nature across Europe and the relationship between people and recovering wildlife.
For judge Viktoria Pezzei, Wieczorek’s photograph stood out because it tells an entire story in one frame — showing beavers interacting within a wild habitat seamlessly integrated into an urban landscape:
“The winning and commended images capture the essence of how humans and wildlife can live side by side. Photography like this translates the complex relationships between humans and wildlife, ultimately helping us understand them better.”
“THE WINNING AND COMMENDED IMAGES CAPTURE THE ESSENCE OF HOW HUMANS AND WILDLIFE CAN LIVE SIDE BY SIDE. PHOTOGRAPHY LIKE THIS TRANSLATES THE COMPLEX RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN HUMANS AND WILDLIFE, ULTIMATELY HELPING US UNDERSTAND THEM BETTER.”
Viktoria Pezzei
Fellow judge Jon A. Juarez, winner of last year’s Rewilding Europe Award, was struck by the diversity of this year’s images. For him, the photographs demonstrate just how many forms rewilding can take:
“Rewilding in Europe doesn’t have one single face. It can mean bringing back a species that disappeared, restoring natural processes, or simply giving nature enough space and time to recover on its own. But increasingly, it is also about learning how to share landscapes with wildlife.”
Helping wildlife return
Runner-up Christoph Kaula’s “Managed revival” tells a very different recovery story. His intimate image of a young European hamster being handled by researchers highlights efforts to save a species that has undergone a dramatic decline in intensively farmed landscapes.
In Germany, captive breeding, genetic sampling, habitat management and monitoring are helping European hamsters recover. Farmers and volunteers are also essential, demonstrating the collaboration that wildlife comeback can sometimes require — a lesson the initiative has brought home to Kaula:
“Bringing a species back is never the work of a single organisation or individual — it’s a collective effort. And that also means raising awareness and communicating the importance of conservation to a much wider audience.”
Living alongside the wild
Three further photographs were highly commended. Fabian Thorand’s “Peaceful European bison” depicts two huge bison resting in a meadow on the edge of a Polish village near Białowieża National Park. Once extinct in the wild across Europe, European bison have made a remarkable comeback, with more than 10,000 animals now roaming freely across the continent.
For Thorand, the relaxed encounter demonstrates what’s possible when people give large wild animals sufficient space and respect:
“I hope to show how beautiful and peaceful coexistence with animals can be, even with such large ones. I believe it’s important to see nature not only as our environment, but as a natural habitat for wild animals that are worth protecting. Bison play a really important ecological role, but people have to learn how to live alongside them.”
Letting natural processes lead
Silke Hüttche’s atmospheric “The call of the eagles” transports the viewer to Anklamer Stadtbruch in north-east Germany. Following a storm surge in 1995, the 2,000-hectare area developed into one of Germany’s largest wilderness areas. Today this rewetted peatland, which is largely governed by natural processes, supports an extraordinary diversity of wildlife, including more breeding pairs of white-tailed eagles than anywhere else in the country.
Repeated visits have transformed Hüttche’s understanding of why recovering wetlands matter. Rewetting peatlands can provide rich habitat for wildlife while also helping to tackle climate change by locking up carbon.
“I have seen how the natural processes at work in Anklamer Stadtbruch have boosted the abundance and diversity of species found there. Today I know how incredibly important such new wilderness is.”
Recovering nature supports livelihoods
The final highly commended photograph takes the story beneath the waves. Lewis Jefferies’ “A new generation” captures a National Lobster Hatchery staff member releasing juvenile European lobsters into a Cornish tidal pool, with St Michael’s Mount visible above the waterline.
The hatchery works with fishermen, scientists, restaurants and the wider community, rearing young lobsters through their most vulnerable stages before releasing them into the sea. Releasing juvenile lobsters complements fisheries management and supports a species with significant ecological and economic value. The European lobster is the UK’s most valuable marine species, making healthy populations important not only for marine ecosystems, but also for the coastal communities whose livelihoods depend on them.
“I really hope this image will help spark interest in marine wildlife and conservation and raise awareness of the incredible conservation work being done in Cornwall to save species and habitats,” says Jefferies.
Towards a shared future
Together, this year’s leading Rewilding Europe Award images reveal that wildlife comeback is possible wherever nature is given the space and conditions to recover. Sometimes wildlife species return on their own, as beavers reclaim and reshape urban waterways and white-tailed eagles recolonise rewetted landscapes. Elsewhere, recovery requires a helping hand from humans — from breeding hamsters and releasing lobsters to restoring wetlands and making room for large herbivores.
They also show why recovering nature matters to people. Healthy wetlands can store water, improve water quality, support abundant wildlife and lock away carbon; thriving marine ecosystems can underpin local livelihoods; and the return of wildlife can enrich the everyday lives of people who encounter it.
Above all, these images show that wildlife comeback is possible in many different European settings — from city waterways and village edges to rewetted peatlands and coastal waters. They offer a hopeful but practical vision of a wilder Europe, where restoring natural processes helps landscapes and seascapes support wildlife, livelihoods and human wellbeing.
