A brown hyena standing beside the ruins of an abandoned diamond mining settlement has earned wildlife photographer Wim van den Heever the title of Wildlife Photographer of the Year.

He set up his camera trap after spotting fresh hyena tracks in the ghost town of Kolmanskop, Namibia. It took him ten years to get the shot, he said.

The brown hyena, the rarest of all hyena species, is primarily nocturnal and tends to live a solitary life. For years, Mr van den Heever searched the deserted town, finding only traces of the elusive animal.

"I knew they were there, but actually photographing one was just never going to happen," he says he thought.

He was awarded the prize at London's Natural History Museum.

The annual exhibition dedicated to the competition opens at the Natural History Museum on 17 October.

Keep scrolling to explore the full collection of award-winning images.

Category: Junior Grand Prize and 15- to 17-year-old winner

Title: After the Destruction

Photographer: Andrea Dominizi, Italy

Location: Lepini Mountains, Lazio, Italy

While exploring the Lepini Mountains in central Italy, an area once logged for its old-growth beech trees, Andrea spotted a beetle resting on a cut log beside abandoned machinery.

"This photo shows the story and challenge faced by many animal species: habitat loss," he says. "In this case, it's a beetle that loses the tree and the wood it needs to lay its eggs."

Category: Animals in their Environment

Title: Like an Eel out of Water

Photographer: Shane Gross, Canada

Location: D'Arros Island, Amirante, Seychelles

After weeks of patience, last year's winner, Shane Gross, captured peppered moray eels scavenging for carrion at low tide.

He spent hours enduring the sun, heat, and flies, waiting where dead fish had washed up. Eventually, three eels appeared.

Category: 10 Years and Under category

Title: The Weaver's Lair

Photographer: Jamie Smart, UK

Location: Mid-Wales, UK

On a cold September morning, Jamie Smart discovered an orb-weaver spider curled up inside its silken hideaway.

"It's also quite special for me because I get to show something that people are usually afraid of," she says.

Category: Wetlands: The Bigger Picture

Title: Vanishing Pond

Photographer: Sebastian Frölich, Germany

Location: Platzertal, Tyrol, Austria

Sebastian Frölich visited Austria's Platzertal moorlands, a........

© BBC