Forest floor discovery earns top Teagasc photography prize

A striking cluster of fungi found during ash dieback fieldwork has earned Teagasc Walsh Scholar Abhishek Singh the top prize in the organisation’s annual photography competition.

Singh, who is based at Oak Park in Carlow, photographed the colourful Flammulina fungi while collecting samples of the organism responsible for ash dieback, a serious disease affecting trees in Ireland and across Europe. His image, ‘Hidden Gems of the Forest Floor’, was named the winner at Teagasc headquarters in Carlow on 11 November.

Now in its twelfth year, the Visions of Research and Innovation competition has run since 2015 and is open to Teagasc staff and students. The judges were TResearch editor Catriona Boyle, wildlife photographer Dr Darren O’Brien and University of Galway geography professor Chaosheng Zhang.

Teagasc director Professor Frank O’Mara congratulated Singh and all 12 finalists. “They capture the beauty, complexity and diversity of our research and offer the public a different perspective on the work of our researchers,” he said of the photographs.

The 12 selected images feature in an exhibition and calendar. The exhibition is part of Science Week, which runs from 8 to 15 November. The photographs are available on the Teagasc website.