Insects fly to the “bar” in the nature picture of the year

This is how the jury justified the selection of the domestic nature picture of the year 2026. The prize went to a resident of Vuosaari, Helsinki Reijo Helaakoski with his work entitled Meeting.

The simple but dramatic photograph features a wasp in the foreground, with a large dark shadow of an admiral butterfly flying in the same direction in the background.

I win Helaakoskele brought a pot from a plastic bottle and an old dishcloth to the backyard butterfly bar. At the bottom of the plastic bottle was a sweet, insect-attracting solution mixed with brown sugar, red wine and red wine vinegar, which was absorbed into the dishcloth and, thanks to the capillary effect, rose up to be available to the insects’ suction tips.

“We tried to see if we could attract butterflies, which are nice to watch. It also helps their food intake in late summer,” Helaakoski says on the phone.

The meadow plants and the butterfly bar made the butterflies enjoy themselves in Helaakoski’s yard from the end of summer 2025, when there is less food for pollinators in nature.

So Helaakoski put the camera on a tripod and tried to get a picture of a situation where several insects fly towards the “bar”. Finding the winning picture required hundreds of frames shot over several days. In the end, Helaakoski got the picture he wanted from his backyard, where an admiral butterfly and a wasp fly side by side towards the bar.

The victory was a big surprise for him.

These other shots were awarded in the Nature Picture of the Year competition:

Plants and mushrooms: Seppo Kauppinen, Kokkola. Star group (2025)

Birds: Hannu Laakso, Klaukkala. Hands up (2025)

Landscapes: Inkeri Välitalo, Oulu. It’s windy in the fells (2024)

Mammals: Asko Hämäläinen, Kouvola. Hot slopes (2025)

Details and forms of nature: Juhani Kosonen, Kotka. Run as a reindeer (2024)

Man and nature: Timo Ripatti, Helsinki. It sucks (2025)

Young people (under 18): Topias Puhakka, Helsinki. Varpus pöllö (2025)

Photo pairs: Markku Pihlajaniemi, Kerava. Warm–Cold (2025)