Check out these un-bee-lievably good insect pictures

Highly Commended Portrait: Lesser banded hornet by Raghuram Annadana

Every year the Royal Entomological Society runs an insect photography competition for non-professionals.

The 2024 competition received almost a thousand entries from keen photographers from 44 countries.

Now, judging has taken place and the winners announced, unveiling a selection of close-up images of fascinating creepy crawlies.

Take a look at some of the winners and commended entries below - they are pretty fly.

'18 and over' category 1st Place: "Detailed Gnat Ogre" by Benjamin Salb

The overall winner in the '18 and over' category is Benjamin Salb, from the United States, for his image of a gnat ogre.

A gnat ogre is a species of robber fly that is found throughout the eastern United States.

They have big wide-set eyes, as you can see in his photo, and get their name because their diet consists almost entirely of gnats - yuck.

Benjamin said: "I love photographing gnat ogres because they're such a challenge. They're ridiculously small and very flighty.

"This is my most successful attempt so far, and I am very pleased with how the detailed eyes came out."

'Under 18' category 1st place: Jagged Ambush Bug" by Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas

German photographer Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas won the 1st place spot in the 'Under 18' category'.

His picture shows a large female jagged ambush bug waiting for its prey on a flower head.

Jagged ambush bugs are part of the Assassin Bug family and get "ambush" part of their name because they typically hide on plants and then quickly spring out (ambush) and grab their unsuspecting prey.

Alex took this photograph on a visit to Canada.

He said: "While visiting family in Canada, one of my main target species was the jagged ambush bug. I found this one in an urban park in Montreal."

Youngest winner Flynn Thaitanunde-Lobb, age 10 : 'Sea of Green'

The youngest winner in the competition was 10-year-old Flynn, whose photo was highly commended.

You might recognise his name as we spoke to him on Newsround when he won a prize at the Nikon Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards.

His picture showed a fly perched on a bright green hedgerow in the front garden which he called 'Sea of Green'.

Talking about his picture Flynn said: "The sun was bright in the morning and I went looking for bees and insects. I spotted a fly perching on the green shrub with the bright sun shining on it.

"It was eating another insect so I waited for it to climb to the tip of the leaf before I took the photo."

Highly Commended in Environment - Blue Dragonfly Yellow Scene by Paul Zimmer

Nearly a thousand photos were submitted from photographers around the world making it a difficult task for the judges.

One of those judges was Matt Doogue who is a professional macro photographer.

He said: "...deciding on the winning entries was never going to be an easy task. It's inspiring to see so many people capturing these extraordinary and intricate glimpses of insects and celebrating their beauty and diversity.

"While technology can often distance us from nature, these photographs highlight how it can also bring us closer."