David Woodfall / Strips of cultivated Black oats (Avena strigosa) , grown by crofters ,who create sillage and feed it to their cattle in the winter. Berneray, North Uist, Scotland, UK, July.

David Woodfall / Two Little terns (Sterna albifrons) at the nest amongst Black oats (Avena strigosa) growing on shell rich sands Machair, North Uist, Scotland, UK, June.

David Woodfall / Little tern (Sterna albifrons) at the nest amongst Black oats (Avena strigosa) growing on shell rich sands Machair, North Uist, Scotland, UK, June.

David Woodfall / Sequence of strips of cultivated Machair with early shoots of Black oats (Avena strigosa) pushing through the sand. North Uist, Scotland, UK, June.

Ingo Arndt / Harvest Mouse (Micromys minutus) using tail whilst climbing in reed, Germany, captive.

Ingo Arndt / Harvest Mouse (Micromys minutus) using tail whilst climbing in reed, Germany, captive.

Richard Du Toit / Black wildebeest (Connochaetus gnou) bull silhouetted at dawn, Rietvlei Nature Reserve, Gauteng Province, South Africa.

Ole Jorgen Liodden / Black-winged stilt (Himantopus himantopus) with out of focus Lesser flamingos (Phoenicopterus minor) standing behind, Lake Nakuru, Kenya

Ole Jorgen Liodden / Magellanic penguin (Spheniscus magellanicus) profile portrait, Falkland Islands, November.

Robert Thompson / Black veined white butterfly (Aporia crataegi) on grass, Gavarnie-Gedre, Pyrenees National Park, France, June.

Nick Upton / Bloody-nosed beetles (Timarcha tenebricosa) mating on a grass stem in a chalk grassland meadow, Wiltshire, UK, April.

David Pike / Two European polecat kittens (Mustela putorius) in grass, West Country Wildlife Photography Centre, captive, July.