Sandesh Kadur / Common peafowl (Pavo cristatus) perched on trees at dawn, Western Ghats, Southern India

Ben Hall / Whooper swan (Cygnus cygnus) in snowfall. Martin Mere Wetlands Trust, Lancashire,UK, January. 'Animal Portraits' category, British Wildlife Photographer Awards (BWPA) competition 2012.

Jordi Chias / Green Turtle, (Chelonia mydas), Swimming over volcanic sandy bottom, Armenime cove, South Tenerife coast, Canary Islands, Spain, Atlantic Ocean, May 2011, Commended in Wildlife Photographer of the Yea...

Sandra Bartocha / Common Poppy (Papaver rhoeas) flowers in cereal field, April

Ben Hall / Chilean flamingos (Phoenicopterus chilensis) in flight over mountain peaks with glacier in the distance, Torres Del Paine National Park, Chile. Winner of Landscape category, Nature's Best / Windland S...

Ben Hall / Northern gannets (Morus / Sula bassanus) portrait of individual with a courting pair in foreground, UK, Bass Rock, Scotland, Portrait category winner in the British Wildlife Photography Awards BWPA co...

Mark MacEwen / Broad snouted caiman (Caiman latirostris) baby in mothers mouth being carried from nest, Sante Fe, Argentina, February

Denis-Huot / Agama (Agama agama) male, Tsavo East National Park, Kenya

Carol Walker / Lusitano horse, grey stallion trotting, Portugal

Stephen Dalton / Brown rat (Rattus norvegicus) backlit, portrait, controlled conditions, UK

Markus Varesvuo / Common Raven (Corvus corax) two in flight during snow storm, Kuusamo, Finland April

Doc White / Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) calf. Tonga, South Pacific, September.

Franco Banfi / Bridled parrotfish (Scarus frenatus) clownish grin reveals its power tools: grinding teeth used to scrape algae from rock, Maldives, Indian Ocean. Highly commended in the Underwater World Category of...

Franco Banfi / Great Blue shark (Prionace glauca) viewed from above, Pico Island, Azores, Portugal, Atlantic Ocean

Danny Green / Fulmer (Fulmras glacialis) in flight near blue glacier, Svalbard, July. Bookplate from Danny Green's 'The Long Journey North'

Stephen Dalton / Buff tailed bumblebee (Bombus terrestris), worker flying around, controlled conditions.

Sandra Bartocha / European beech trees (Fagus sylvatica) in Gespensterwald, Nienhagen, Mecklenburg-Western Pommerania, Germany.

David Tipling / Red-crowned Cranes (Grus japonensis) displaying at dawn Hokkaido, Japan, February. Did you know? Red crowned cranes mate for life.

Michel Roggo / Looking down at Chubb (Leuciscus cephalus) at surface with reflection of bridge, Rhine River, Switzerland, 1993. No release available.

Niall Benvie / Twin Birch (Betula) trees highlighted snow. Senja, Norway, February.

Alex Hyde / Portrait of a Common Wasp (Vespula vulgaris). UK. Focus stacked image (dead specimen).

Solvin Zankl / Close up of ant (Harpegnathos venator) head from Asia. Specimen photographed using digital focus stacking

David Pattyn / Spectacled caiman (Caiman yacare) walking on a sandy shore at the edge of a river at night, Pantanal, Brazil

Markus Varesvuo / Bohemian waxwings (Bombycilla garrulus) feeding on berries, Uto Finland October

David Pattyn / Dalmatian Pelican (Pelecanus crispus) head on close up portrait. Lake Kerkini, Greece, March.

Steven Kazlowski / Two curious young Polar bears (Ursus maritimus), Barter Island, off the 1002 area of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, North Slope of the Brooks Range, Alaska, October 2011

Franco Banfi / Great Blue shark (Prionace glauca) profile portrait viewed from slightly above, Pico Island, Azores, Portugal, Atlantic Ocean

Stephen Dalton / Blue morpho (Morpho peleides) in flight, controlled conditions, from South America

Floris van Breugel / Turquoise waters of the lagoon along Ofu's National Park beach, American Samoa. January 2012.

Floris van Breugel / A skier glides past an erupting geyser in the Old Faithful geyser basin in Yellowstone National Park. The cold temperatures in the winter cause the geysers to release more steam than usual making the...

Igor Shpilenok / Male Caucasian turs (Capra caucasica) rutting with Dykh-tau Mountain in the background, Kabardino-Balkarsky Zapovednik / Reserve, Russia, July

Denis-Huot / African Elephant (Loxodonta africana) baby playing with its mother. Masai-Mara Game Reserve, Kenya.

Andy Rouse / European otter (Lutra lutra) running, UK, taken in controlled conditions July

Alex Mustard / Whale shark (Rhincodon typus) silhouette of shark feeding on floating fish eggs (not visible) just below the surface in calm weather, with snorkeller taking photos nearby, Isla Mujeres, Quintana Roo,...

Sandra Bartocha / Common Poppy (Papaver rhoeas) flowers impression in field, Neubrandenburg, Mecklenburg Western Pommerania, Germany

Markus Varesvuo / Arctic Tern (Sterna paradisaea) in flight, silhouetted against the moon at dusk, Uto Finland July

Franco Banfi / Detail of magnificent Sea anemone (Heteractis magnifica) Maldives, Indian Ocean

Alex Hyde / Velvet Worm (Peripatus novaezealandiae) silhouetted against a leaf, known as 'living fossils', having remained the same for approximately 570 million years, New Zealand, Captive

Juan Manuel Borrero / Sunflower {Helianthus annuus} Spain

Erlend Haarberg / Mist over a Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) / Norway spruce (Picea abies) forest at sunrise, near Yli-Kitka lake and Tolva village, Finland, July 2006

Mark MacEwen / Blue-and-Yellow Macaw (Ara ararauna) close up of feathers. Captive, Brazil, South America.

Jack Dykinga / Bark patterns of Aspen tree (Populus tremula) in front of a Ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) trunk, Kaibab National Forest, Arizona, USA

Enrique Lopez-Tapia / Lobelia (Lobelia deckenii) close up of leaves, alpine species of lobelia that lives on Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

Ben Hall / Red deer (Cervus elaphus) stags fighting at dusk during rutting season, Cheshire, UK October

Rolf Nussbaumer / Long-jawed longhorn beetle (Trachyderes mandibularis) close up head portrait, Dinero, Lake Corpus Christi, South Texas, USA.

Rolf Nussbaumer / Northern raccoon (Procyon lotor) young at night climbing live Oak tree (Quercus virginiana) Dinero, Lake Corpus Christi, South Texas, USA.

David Tipling / Australasian Gannet (Morus serrator) low angle portrait, Cape Kidnappers, North Island, New Zealand

Danny Green / Arctic Fox (Vulpes lagopus) portrait in winter coat. Norway, Captive, March.