GDT Nature Photographer of the Year 2012 – in pictures

Top prize winner Klaus Tamm triumphed with this image, of which he said: "One evening in early April 2010 I was out to save common toads crossing the road from being run over. I had wanted to photograph this for quite some time, so I parked the car on a quiet road to compose some images of a migrating toad. The animal moved very slowly due to the cool evening temperatures, and I managed to create a photograph in the vehicle’s beam. The wet surface of the road with its reflections added to the composition." Photograph: Klaus Tamm/GDT

The birds category winner by Ingo Plenk Photograph: Ingo Plenk/GDT

The birds category runner-up by Werner Bollmann Photograph: Werner Bollmann/GDT

The birds category third place photo by Michael Lohmann Photograph: Michael Lohmann/GDT

Fourth place in birds went to this shot of a great grey owl by Serge Sorbi Photograph: Serge Sorbi/GDT

This photo of a capercaillie by Klaus Echle was sixth place in birds Photograph: Klaus Echle/GDT

The mammals category winner: Stoat at Full Speed, by Rolf Müller Photograph: Rolf Mueller/GDT

The mammals category fourth place photo, of a chamois mountain goat, by Gisela Schmid Photograph: Gisela Schmid/GDT

Hermann Hirsch took the mammals category fifth place with this image Photograph: Hermann Hirsch/GDT

The other animals category runner-up by Antje Kreienbrink Photograph: Antje Kreienbrink/GDT

The other animals category sixth place photo by Bernhard Brautlecht Photograph: Bernhard Brautlecht/GDT

This image of beech trees by Michael Lauer won the plants and fungi category Photograph: Michael Lauer/GDT

The plants and fungi category runner-up by Dr Ralph Gräf Photograph: Dr. Ralph Gräf/GDT

This image taken by Claudia Müller took 10th place in plants and fungi Photograph: Claudia Müller/GDT

The landscape category winner by Dr Martin Schmidt Photograph: Dr. Martin Schmidt/GDT

The landscape runner-up by Hermann Hirsch Photograph: Hermann Hirsch/GDT

The nature's studio winner by Bernd Nill Photograph: Bernd Nill/GDT

This photo by Radomir Jakubowski was the nature's studio runner-up Photograph: Radomir Jakubowski/GDT

The nature's studio third place photo by Harald Metzger of fossilised sand dune Photograph: Harald Metzger/GDT

Uwe Naeve's image of knots won the marine life category Photograph: Uwe Naeve/GDT

Stefan Pütz was marine life runner-up with this photo Photograph: Stefan Pütz/GDT