The Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition will not be free to view as usual when it comes to Bristol next month.

It’s also moving locations, from its former home of Bristol Museum & Art Gallery to the M Shed.

Prices to view the exhibition, now in its 49th year, are £3 for adults and £2 for concessions and children, with a family ticket costing £8.

The reason for the change of venue and visitors having to pay to see the exhibition for the first time have yet to be explained, especially with a corporate sponsor in place, Edge Tax Consultancy.

But there is no doubt that the always popular exhibition is likely to see a significant reduction in visitor numbers if people have to reach into their pockets for the first time to see the stunning photographs.

UPDATE

Bristol City Council have released the following statement:

“We want to provide our visitors with a changing programme of exhibitions, however putting them on costs money. By charging visitors to cover some of these costs we are able to develop the museum service and exhibition programme to show more ambitious and varied temporary exhibitions – and it allows us to keep our permanent galleries free.

“There is no doubt the annual wildlife photographer exhibition in Bristol is very popular and the stunning images of the natural world continue to enthral visitors. This year, in addition to the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition, visitors will also be able to discover ‘Bristol Wildlife’ – Get wild about your city’, a special display of rarely seen specimens from our own natural history collections, which celebrate Bristol’s diverse and special wildlife.”

www.mshed.org/whats-on/exhibitions/wildlife-photographer-of-the-year/