Gorilla with ButterfliesWestern lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) female ‘Malui’ walk-ing through a cloud of butterflies she has disturbed in Bai Hokou, Dzanga Sangha Special Dense Forest Reserve, Central African Republic.

Photographer quote:

Malui is the highest-ranking female in a family led by the silver-back male Makumba. She is a stroppy, feisty character but quite relaxed about being observed as long as it is at a distance. One day I saw her do something delightful. Swarms of butterflies had filled the air and carpeted the earth. They swarmed over us and also seemed to pester the gorillas - that is, all except Malui. She ploughed straight through one drove of butterflies, seeming to relish the rush of wings. She paused to let the butterflies envelope her. Then she did it again. It was a wonderful end to what had been a sad few days for Malui. A couple of days earlier she had given birth to her fourth baby. The baby was fully formed but stillborn. We saw the family gather round Malui, watching silently. Malui tried to revive the baby and even tried to get it to suckle. Mosoko, her daughter, came and sat next to Malui, grooming her quietly and gently. Grooming is rare in Western lowland gorillas so it probably signifies something pro-found when it occurs. Mosoko stayed near her grieving mother as she wandered aim-lessly, carrying the stillborn on her back. She hardly noticed us. The next day she moved very little and slept a lot, the baby next to her. She eventually abandoned the bloated carcass in the evening and the gorillas moved on. The grieving process had lasted over 30 hours.By the time we saw Malui playing with the butterflies the loss of her baby was history; Malui was throughly enjoying herself.

Photographer: Anup ShahImage number: 01406092See also: 01406093, 01406094, 01406095Search “Malui” (24 images)

Poison PistolMozambique Spitting Cobra (Naja mossambica) ejecting venom Kruger, South Africa, Controlled conditions

Photographer quote:

During a recent trip to Africa I had the opportunity to photograph spitting cobra. Obviously this was going to be best achieved by working with captive snakes, albeit in natural habitat. The imag-es were taken at a reptile education, rehabilitation and breeding centre. It was only possible to have a couple of attempts at captur-ing the snake actually spitting venom. For one reason I didn’t want to unduly stress the animal and for another the snake starts to run out of venom after a couple of good spits! I used a 600mm lens resting upon the ground to enable me to throw the background vegetation well out of focus which, along with the backlighting, really helped the venom to show clearly. The long telephoto lens also enabled me to work well away from the snake! The snake was carried into position inside a purpose built circular dome within which it naturally coils itself. As soon as the dome was lifted the snake would rear its head, allowing me to take some por-trait shots. However, it was only as the dome was replaced that the snake would spit. I had to reply upon my camera’s fast motor-drive to stand a chance of capturing the images I was after. The snake handler was covered in venom and had a hosepipe nearby to wash himself down before the venom burned his skin. OK, working with captive animals isn’t really wildlife photography, but what better way is there to illustrate what an amazing species this is? This is one shoot that I won’t forget in a hurry!

Photographer: Guy EdwardesImage number: 01421919See also: 01421920

Mass Coral Spawning

A large colony of Mountainous star coral (Montastraea faveolata) spawning at night on a coral reef, showing the synchronous re-lease of bundles of eggs and sperm. Cayman Islands, British West Indies, Caribbean Sea.

Photographer quote:

Corals spend most of their time doing convincing impersonations of rocks. But for a few special minutes each year, late at night, they explode into effervescent life.The world had been introduced to Star Wars and Indiana Jones before marine biologists learned that corals mate in synchronized mass spawnings. And even now they are still decoding the cues and discovering the exact timings for many reefs. For example, it was only in May 2012 that Egyptian scientists euphorically an-nounced that they had recorded the first mass spawning in the Red Sea.My own contribution was in the Cayman Islands, where ten years ago, predictions I made allowed the first observations of mass spawning there. They have seen the spawning every year since and I even presented my data at the Zoological Society in London.It remains one of the ocean’s most elusive sights; the majority of coral species only spawn once a year, at night, and some for just a couple of seconds. The challenge is to be there, in front of the right coral, at exactly the right time. Nail it and the spectacle isn’t just fascinating, it is a diving experience that totally engulfs you. You’ll never look at coral reef the same way again.I returned to Grand Cayman in September 2012 for the 10th anniversary of our first observations, which is when I took these pictures, using off camera flashes to backlight the spawning.

Photographer: Alex MustardImage number: 01413034Next page: 01413033, 01413053Search “Mustard coral spawning” (59 images)

Toothy Taxi

Broad snouted caiman (Caiman latirostris) baby in mother’s mouth being carried from nest, Sante Fe, Argentina.

Photographer quote:

I was at a caiman farm in Santa Fey, Argentina, when I took this shot. Although the farm produces caiman skins, it also re-intro-duces animals into the wild, helping to maintain the natural popu-lation.The mother could hear the baby caiman calling from the nest as they begun to hatch, at which point I observed her digging out the nest and collecting her babies in ones and twos, carrying them very gently into the water shallows. She also on several occasions heard them calling from the egg, and would pick up the eggs, toss-ing them in her mouth and very gently cracking them open, releas-ing the juvenile and carrying them off to be part of her creche.

Photographer: Mark MacEwenImage number: 01409040See also: 01409039Search “MacEwen caiman” (19 images)

Curious macaques

Celebes / Black crested macaque (Macaca nigra) group watching with curiosity, Tangkoko National Park, Sulawesi, Indonesia.

Photographer quote:

These black crested macaques were photographed in Tangkoko National Park in Sulawesi, where two different troops are being researched. We spent four weeks with them and got to know the individuals in a troop called ‘Rambo One’ very well. As we arrived on the scene every morning, the juveniles would rush to greet us. The youngsters in the image were playing on a fallen tree trunk at about midday but could not resist looking at my cam-era lens. I suspect they could see themselves upside down in the lens and were trying to work the reflected image out. In fact, there was competition among them to get the best view of the camera lens!

Photographer: Anup ShahImage number: 01416764Search: “Shah curious macaques”

Urban badger

European Badger (Meles meles) on the North Downs above Folke-stone. Kent, UK

Photographer quote:

The image was taken with a camera trap. I was actually trying to get foxes in this setting. I’m still trying. I knew from various field signs that both foxes and badgers (outliers from a local sett) were using this area of cattle pasture on the edge of a large gorse thick-et on the North Downs above Folkestone near my home. Because the area is very popular with people, particulalry dog-walkers I had to set up the equipment every evening just before dark and remove it again early next morning. Badgers are usually pretty laid back about the physical presence of the equipment, camera noise and flash, unlike foxes which can be put off by any or all of these. I got a badger on the first night and that enabled me to fine tune the composition and lighting which was pretty simple with just two flashes providing lighting from either side of the animal. The tricky part is registering enough ambient light and this involves a slow shutter speed of around 1/2 to 1 second to get a decent exposure of the town lights. This means that to avoid ghosting, the animal has to be placed in a dark area of the frame so it is lit entirely by flash. I chose a spot with a split background of dark grassland out of range of the flash in which to place the subject and then have the long exposure register the town lights above that. I baited exactly the right spot with a small amount of peanuts and canned dog food. Just enough to get them to pause in the right place. Most of the images I got were a badger with its nose in the grass but in a couple I got lucky with a head up image. The whole exercise took about a week to get the right shots.

Photographer: Terry WhittakerImage number: 01400990See also: 01400991, 01401012, 01401025, 01401026

Shark Soup

Blacktip reef sharks (Carcharhinus melanopterus) in shallow water gathering very close to shore, Aldabra Atoll, Seychelles, Indian Ocean.

Photographer quote:

As a conservation biologist turned conservation photographer, I was on an expedition to document Aldabra’s shark populations when I took this shot of blacktip reef sharks patrolling the san-dy-bottomed ocean. The sharks would follow me in the water, and when the island’s resident cook threw left over fish skeletons into the sea they would converge inshore, turning the still water into turmoil full of fins and bubbles.The sharks are as integral to the atoll as its giant tortoises, flight-less rails and coconut crabs. At dawn I would open my eyes and watch them cruise past from my bed in the small research station. To me they represented the extraordinariness of Aldabra, a place full of mystique and a vision of what the world might be like if we hadn’t interfered.Over half a Century ago Jacques-Yves Cousteau described Aldabra as ‘one of the last sanctuaries on our planet … a place that man has not yet spoiled’. I hope that this image helps people grasp the importance of protecting more areas of our ocean and safe guard-ing Aldabra for all the half centuries to come.

Photographer: Cheryl Samantha OwenImage number: 1399759See also: 01399767, 01399768, 01399803, 01399752.

Bats in Blankets

Spectacled flying fox (Pteropus conspicillatus) babies or bubs wrapped in cloth in the nursery at Tolga Bat Hospital, North Queensland, Australia.

Photographer quote:

In the mid-1980’s, in the Atherton Tablelands of Queensland Australia, large numbers of Spectacled flying foxes (Pteropus con-spicillatus) began dying mysteriously. It wasn’t until 1990 that the cause was discovered: Paralysis ticks (Ixodes holocyclus). Tolga Bat hospital was opened in response and now receives on average 800 infected adults and 400 orphan babies each year. The babies spend most of their time in the nursery asleep and are wrapped in cloth, for want of being tucked beneath the protective wings of their mother. The cloth protects their little wings and feet, already well clawed, and prevents them from hurting each other.

Photographer: Jurgen FreundImage number: 01410373Search “Freund bat hospital” (162 images)

Face of FearMozambican children with captive Yellow Baboon youngster (Papio cyno-cephalus).

Photographer quote:

I was on my way to northern Mozambique to photograph elephant poach-ing when, passing through a village, I saw a group of children with a teth-ered yellow baboon. It had been caught when its troop raided local crops, probably forced by loss of their habitat. Few animals show such human expressions and this youngster’s face spoke volumes. One can imagine a whole plethora of scenarios might have alleviated a terrible situation for this particular animal. However, the sad reality in this world of ours is that circumstances are often far more complex than initially meets the eye. Many of the countries I work in have very poor human rights records let alone an agenda for protecting the rights of animals. I can’t - as a caucasian - start telling Africans what they can and cannot do with something that clearly ‘belongs’ more to them than it does to me. Then things got tricky when men appeared demanding that I bought the infant. Had I paid for it, I would have compounded the situation and passed by next time only to find six more primates for sale to ‘foreigners’. If I had taken the animal without paying for it, it would have been construed as theft – and assuming I got away safely I would have had no way to look after it appropriately. The closest rescue operation that I knew of was in South Africa, over 1500km away and getting appropriate paperwork for one young baboon to cross international borders would not have been possible. Finally, I could have contacted a National Park or Game Depart-ment but baboons are not a protected species and game rangers have no jurisdiction outside of a Park or Reserve. So the best I could do was take a picture to highlight the human-wildlife conflict issue that is so common in Central Africa.I had a permit to move through this region with specific instructions that I was not permitted to undertake any photography outside of my final des-tination. The driver was not happy with me and the local police that turned up a few minutes later were certainly not. I had a very short time to try and take the photograph, and I am very grateful that I was able to do this rela-tively quickly. At least having extricated myself from a rapidly deteriorating situation, I now had with me an image that I hoped might help illustrate just one aspect of the numerous problems that African wildlife faces in this day and age.

I never knew the youngster’s fate.

Photographer: JabrusonImage number: 01405586See also: 01416161, 01416159, 01416157

Tangled Turtle

Loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) trapped in a drifting aban-doned net, Mediterranean Sea.

Photographer quote:

I spotted the abandoned net drifting along the surface and as I dived down to investigate, I could see the loggerhead turtle tan-gled up in the netting. The poor creature must have been trapped for some days, it was so badly knotted up. Though it could just reach the surface to breathe by extending its neck, it was still sentenced to a long, cruel death. I felt as though it were looking at me for help as it tried to bite through the netting. I released it, allowing this individual a second chance. Given that all species of sea turtles are endangered, they need all the help they can get.

Photographer: Jordi ChiasImage number: 01405775

Salamander Spawning

Japanese giant salamander (Andrias japonicus) eating the eggs of another salamander, Japan

Photographer quote:

The giant salamander is the world’s largest amphibian, with a body length from 30 cm to 1.5m! I took this photo is the Hino-River that flows through the town, of Tottori Prefecture, Nichinan-chou in Ja-pan. I have spent more than 450 days at this location over the last six years and it took three years to shoot this scene of spawning, which occurs from August to September. Currently, there is only one burrow in Japan which allows photography of the spawning behaviour of giant salamanders. I waited in the river for as long as 10 hours each day during the spawning season. It is impossible to tell exactly when the sala-manders will spawn so I had a camera in situ at all times, even when I was not on site.In mating season, a male salamander travels to find a cavern in a sandy stream bank and excavates a large oval nest. The “den master,” as scientists call the breeding male, aggressively defends his nest from intruders. But when the right female slithers by, he immediately welcomes her in to mate. The female enters the den and lays a string of white eggs, which the male fertilizes with his sperm. The two begin a circular dance around the eggs and sperm, stirring them. The den master then allows other males and females to enter the nest and join the spawning circle.This photograph shows a male (not the denmaster) that is eating some of the eggs, baheaviour that has never been captured before on camera. The den master will guard the remaining eggs for at least three months, until they hatch.

Photographer: Yukihiro FukudaImage number: 01405047Next page: 01409220, 01405037Search “Fukuda Salamander”

Hungry GiantsBlue Whales (Balaenoptera musculus) throat inflated, filter feed-ing at sea surface. California, USA.

Photographer quote:

In the early 1990’s I worked on an ABC film on Blue Whales, during which time I met Steve Parker, a pilot for a conservation group. Steve and I have remained friends and whenever we get word that Blue Whales are off the coast, we try to find them in his plane, a Cessna 206. In the summer of 2012 I had been on the water with a number of Blues, so on the first really nice day, Steve and I took off from a small airfield north of San Diego. Once we got our “feet wet” (i.e. over the water), we spotted over 50 Blue Whales feeding on the surface. While half were feeding alone, an equal number were feeding in pairs. We circled the area for an hour as the whales feasted. Krill were swarming in large batches on the surface, you could watch as the whales swam towards the krill, often in perfect forma-tion, then rolled on their sides, opened their mouths and engulfed the crustaceans in one gulp before continuing on. The water was unusually clear and blue, so we could see the whales approaching their prey and predict where they would surface. In all my years photographing Blue Whales, this was the best day from the air, not only in my experience, but to my knowledge. It only confirms my belief that it is better to be lucky than good!

Photographer: Doc WhiteImage number: 01415039Search “White blue whale feeding”

Grand Prismatic Spring

Aerial view of Grand Prismatic thermal spring in Yellowstone Na-tional Park, USA.

Photographer quote:

The bright colours in this photograph are natural, coming from thermophile bacteria in the water. People can be seen walking on the raised trail at the top of this frame giving scale to this large natural feature. The spring is 320ft (approx 100 meters) across and 160ft deep (approx 50 meters). The blue water is a result of light refracting through the clean, mineral-rich volcanic waters. The yellow and orange hues are chemosynthetic mats (not requir-ing sunlight) of thermophilic (heat loving or tolerant) algae and bacteria which assort according to their temperature preferences. The water is heated to 71 degrees Celsius by a magma chamber of the Yellowstone Supervolcano. Diverse thermophilic communities include mats of cyanobacteria, algae and eukaryotic faunas. They are researched for their genetic potential and by scientists search-ing for evidence of life on other planets.

Photographer: Paul D. StewartImage number: 01388419

Tiger Tantrum

Bengal Tigers (Panthera tigris) sub-adults, approximately 17-19 months old, playfighting. Bandhavgarh National Park, India.

Photographer quote:

Photographing these tigers was a phenomenal experience that was part of a well-timed couple of weeks.Their mother had left her three 20-month-old cubs (two males and one female) alone for a couple of days while she went off hunting, (usually out of the park, where she would go to kill cattle). She would always leave the cubs near a water supply. In the evening the sub-adult cubs would often start play-fighting and chasing around, leaping into lakes and boxing. On this occasion I had to handhold my 600mm F4 lens as I tried to find a small window through the undergrowth. As well as a physical effort of hand-holding such a big lens it was also a case of trying to cope with the adrenaline and excitement that I was feeling. I have spent a fair amount of time photographing tigers and so I knew how special what I was witnessing actually was. When they both reared up on their hind legs, perfectly in profile, all I kept thinking was ‘I hope it’s sharp’. All in all it was one of the most memorable wildlife experiences of my life.

Photographer: Andrew ParkinsonImage number: 01408624See also: 01408625, 01408623, 01408591

Siskin Scrap

Siskins (Carduelis spinus) fighting over food. Oisterwijk, The Netherlands.

Photographer quote:

I feed birds visiting our garden all year long. At the end of winter the numbers of visiting birds are the highest. Some years our garden is visited by Siskins but not every year. It depends on their migration route and the weather. They only visit in February and March.I noticed that these are very agressive birds; they tend to fight a lot even when there is no need. Mostly they will fight for food.To get this picture, I put Niger seed in the branch at the bottom of the picture and I removed all the other feeding stations from the garden. Now the birds had to queue to get to the food and fights would occur more often. I disabled the autofocus and set the focus manually on the spot where I anticipated the action. I exposed manually too to get the fasted shutter speed possible to freeze the action and to have some depth of field because both birds need to be in focus. Every time a fight would happen, I fired away at 10 frames per second. It took me loads of images and a lot of time but in the end in this picture, everything came together.

Photographer: David PattynImage number: 01409734

Fox Feud

Two Red Foxes (Vulpes vulpes) fighting. The Netherlands

Photographer quote:

This picture was made at “de Amsterdamse Waterleidingduinen” - a nature reserve in The Netherlands.Because there has been no hunting in this reserve for decades, a lot of animals have lost their fear for man. In some places foxes have even become so bold they will approach people to see if there is anything they can get to eat. For photographers this is indeed an exceptional situation as the foxes are often oblivious to your presence.Here, two foxes of the same family engaged in a very short fight for dominance.

Photographer: David PattynImage number: 01409727

Pelican Pond

Dalmatian pelicans (Pelecanus crispus) portrait of three on water, Lake Kerkini, Greece.

Photographer quote:

These pelicans have no fear of humans during the fishing season; they will follow fisherman because they know the fishermen will throw away fish they can not sell.These days a lot of photographers will join the fishermen to photo-graph the pelicans, most of the time with wide angle lenses be-cause as soon as you throw fish the pelicans will approach within inches of the boat.I wanted to do it a little different and asked the fishermen to adjust their daily habits: not throwing fish all the time because then you get 50 pelicans around which is difficult for photography. Just now and then they would throw a fish away. I was working with my floating hide from a distance and as the pel-icans did not notice me, I was able to concentrate on taking more natural portraits. With the camera at their eye level, I was able to create a better sense of their world.

Photographer: David PattynImage number: 01405437Next page: 01421022, 01421035Search “Pattyn Pelicans” (48 images)

Flamingos in Flight Over the AndesChilean flamingos (Phoenicopterus chilensis) in flight over moun-tain peaks with glacier in the distance, Torres Del Paine National Park, Chile

Photographer quote:

I took this image whilst on a four-week tour of Patagonia. During the trip I spent several days exploring Torres Del Paine, a large national park in Chile. It is a wild, hostile environment and a place of extreme beauty. For much of the time I was searching for Ande-an condors, but after an arduous dawn trek into the mountains I caught sight of a group of flamingos feeding on a dried lake bed. As part of the group took flight, I switched to a shorter lens and fired a sequence of images in an attempt to show the relationship between the birds and their habitat. This was my favourite image of the trip. It was one of those rare moments where everything seemed to come together at just the right moment - the birds, the layered peaks and the glacier in the distance. For me, it shows both the beauty of the birds, the awesome landscape and tells a story about the relationship between the two.

Photographer: Ben HallImage number: 01415137

Venus Wasptrap

Common wasp (Vespa vulgaris) caught in a Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula).

Photographer quote:

I grow insectivorous plants at my home in the UK and, if the sum-mers are warm enough, I relocate them to the garden for a healthy dose of sunlight. One day I noticed that this Venus flytrap had caught a large wasp! This carnivorous plant, native to North America, is not accustomed to handling prey of this size. The wasp had gone by the followiong day so I can only assume it got away. I think the plant just bit off more than it could chew!

Photographer: Chris MattisonImage number: 01401904

Night Vision

Male Marsh pride lion (Panthera leo) on a moonless night, Masai Mara, Kenya.

Photographer quote:

This image was taken at night using infra-red lighting invisible to both lions and humans. By using single wavelength 850nm LED lights (most often used for CCTV surveillance) and a modified camera, which is sensitive to infared wavelengths, I was able to capture the ambience of the night in Kenya’s Masai Mara National Reserve. The advantage of this technique is that it’s possible to illuminate the scene without altering the subject’s behaviour (note the fully dilated pupils showing the lion’s vision is night-adjusted). This shot was taken between bouts of roaring, as one of two dominant males in the ‘Marsh Pride’ declared his ownership of the territory against incoming males. When the photo was taken, the coalition of dominant males had controlled the pride for over three years, an unusually long tenure and one that is unlikely to last for much longer. I spent a month following this pride of lions at night. They hunt more successfully when light levels are lowest so I chose nights when there was no moonlight, which would otherwise give them away to their prey. It was a very difficult thing to do. I used night vision to drive, but that doesn’t show you where the holes in the terrain are! And there were many occasions when I was unable to follow them at all. At no stage during the night was I able to see the lions. I could hear them, but it was only possible to see what I was doing from the camera screen.

Photographer: Mark MacEwenImage number: 01409003 Next pg: 01409123; 01409129Search “MacEwen infra-red” (46 images)

Bear Tongue

Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus) portrait with blue tongue sticking out, Svalbard, Norway.

Photographer quote:

I shot this from a small Zodiac inflatable rubber boat, the bear was eating the final morsels of an old whale carcass that had been there for 3 years!. The meat was obviously not to the bear’s liking, so he was drinking water and rinsing his mouth afterwards, clean-ing the tongue, and at the same time tasting the scents in the air coming in from us in the boat. We lay still and he came closer, until we felt we had to back off to give him space.

Photographer: Staffan WidstrandImage number: 01410138, 01410136See also: 01417154

Fluorescent Rocks and StarsA wide variety of fluorescent minerals including scheelite (blue/white), calcite (red), silica coatings containing uranyl ions (green), fluorite (pink), and ‘desert varnish’ (yellow/orange), populate the mine tailings of a Tungsten mine near Darwin, California, USA.

Photographer quote:

One of my childhood hobbies was to go out to the desert with my father to explore abandoned mines and collect fluorescent min-erals at night. Once the sun had set, we’d head out onto the mine tailings with a portable Ultraviolet lamp to look for rocks that glow under the powerful UV rays. Standing out on a calm desert night under the expanse of stars is magical enough, but seeing the tech-nicolor rocks come to life takes it to another level. I spent several hours collecting minerals all over the mining area to create a compelling and rich combination of colorful rocks. To make the final image I set the camera to take a 20 minute expo-sure, during which time I illuminated the scene with my ultraviolet lamp.

HummingbirdAnna’s Hummingbird (Calypte anna) stretching, Mount Diablo State Park, California, USA

Photographer quote: Hummingbirds flap their wings over 60 times per second in flight, so you can imagine it takes a little time to wake up and stretch in the morning before they can get going. I would head out before dawn, find a hummingbird and wait for the sun to rise, at which point they stretch their wings and take off. Since hummingbirds are incredibly tiny, and fast, it’s surprisingly difficult to get a high magnification and sharp image. Every time they would stretch they moved just enough that their heads would be out of the plane of focus I had set. Fortunately, after many attempts, I finally got lucky with this image!

Photographer: Floris van BreugelImage number: 01410480, 01410151

Snow Painting

Winter snowstorm with frost covered trees , Hurricane Ridge, Olym-pic National Park, Washington, USA.

Photographer quote:

I took this image in Olympic National Park, on Hurricane Ridge, where I spent the night camping in the backcountry. For a long time I’d been wanting to try ‘painting’ snow at night, a technique that invloves shining light onto the falling snow in the dark. When I heard the pitter patter of snowflakes hitting my tent a few hours after dark I quickly pulled on my down parka and crawled out into the snow fall. Earlier that evening I had scouted a composition for just this occasion, so I quickly set up and got to work. It took several attempts and I lit the scane with my headlamp from differ-ent points to get even, but dramatic lighting. Although it looks like a ferocious winter storm, it was actually quite peaceful. It was of course impossible to keep the snow from piling onto my camera and lens, but I decided that the snowflakes on the lens simply add-ed to the feeling of being there - when you get hit in the face with a snowflake, and it’s a wonderful feeling!

Photographer: Floris van BreugelImage number: 01410518

Trio of Gannets

Northern gannets (Morus / Sula bassanus) portrait of individual with a courting pair in foreground, UK, Bass Rock, Scotland

Photographer quote:Bass Rock is a volcanic island that lies 2 kilometres off the east coast of Scotland, and each year it becomes home to over 150,000 gannets. The birds descend on the island each spring to breed, and cover nearly every square foot of land. Being right in the middle of such a frantic mass of birds is quite literally an assault on the senses: the stench of ammonia is overwhelming, not to mention the noise! Having such a vast number of potential subjects within reach can be bewildering, so whenever I visit, I sit down and concentrate on just a small number of birds. During this particular visit I noticed two birds displaying, and one several feet further back sitting on its nest. I composed the camera so that the focus was on the bird in the distance, but included the pair in the foreground to act as a frame. I sat in the same spot for what seemed like an eternity before the bird in the distance finally stared straight through the gap and into the lens. Just as I was making my way back to the boat one of the gannets misjudged its landing and collided with the back of my head, knocking me to the floor and splitting my head open. Not a very pleasant end to the day!

Photographer: Ben HallImage number: 01415138

Leaping HeronStriated green heron (Butorides striatus) jumping to catch dragon-fly prey, Aldabra Atoll, Seychelles, Indian Ocean

Photographer quote:This striated green heron jumping for dragonflies sent me diving for my camera, and holding my breath. After several attempts, thebird bounced back to earth with the wings of a dragonfly protrud-ing from both sides of its mouth!

Photographer: Cheryl Samantha-OwenImage number: 01399804

Snatch & Grab

Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) adult defending carcass from Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes), Sinite Kamani National Park, Bulgaria.

Photographer quote:

I hiked for five kilometres in thick snow in the Sinite Kamani Na-tional Park in Bulgaria to reach a hide known to be a golden eagle hotspot. It was one of the coldest winters in recent years, and using a vehicle was out of the question. I spent a long while watching a golden eagle eating a carcass and I was able to get some great portrait shots. But what happened next took me by surprise! A red fox sidled up and tried to snatch the meal, but the eagle was having none of it. After a short, fierce spat, the fox fled with the eagle literally hard on its heels. A golden eagle can kill prey even bigger than a fox, but with a car-cass to defend, the eagle was almost certainly just trying to scare the fox away rather than grab it.

Photographer: Stefan HuwilerImage number: 01408440See also: 01408441

Moonlighting Tern

Arctic Tern (Sterna paradisaea) in flight, silhouetted against the moon at dusk, Uto, Finland.

Photographer quote:

Midsummer nights in Finland are light enough to allow night-time photography without additional sources of light. This image was taken just before midnight on an island in the Gulf of Finland, that has a good-sized breeding colony of Artic Terns.First checking the calendar to find out when the moon would be full around midsummer, plus what time it rises, and following the weather forecast to see if it would be clear, I then planned to spend a couple of nights in early July photographing the terns as they flew back and forth between the island and the sea, bringing in fish for the young.Trying to get a tern just right in front of the moon took hours of work, but it paid off in the end.

Photographer: Markus VaresvuoImage number: 01412445

Growing Up, Growing Down

[Left] Common Hepatica (Anenome hepatica) Mecklenburg-Vorpo-mmern, Germany, April

[Right] Light reflected through icicles, Tollensesee, Germany, January

Photographer: Sandra BartochaImage number: 01401770 (left) & 01401751

Nature’s Art[Top left] Common Poppy (Papaver rhoeas) flowers impression in field, Neubrandenburg, Mecklenburg Western Pommerania, Germany.

[Top right] Waves of Baltic Sea washing over and polishing co-loured pebbles, Germany.

[Bottom left] Light reflection on wave in the Baltic Sea, Sassnitz, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany.

[Bottom right] Forest understorey with Scots Pine (Pinus sylves-tris), Downy European white birch (Betula pubescens) and Europe-an Beech (Fagus sylvatica) trees, Muritz National Park, Germany.

Photographer: Sandra BartochaImage number: 01401739 (TL); 01401742 (TR); 01401821 (BL); 01401875 (BR)Search “Sandra Bartocha” (754 images)

Fish FormationBanggai Cardinalfish (Pterapogon kauderni) in front of Magnif-icent Sea Anemone (Heteractis magnifica). Indonesia, tropical Indo-Pacific Ocean.

Photographer quote:

I made this picture in Lembeh Strait, Indonesia. Lembeh is just off the NE corner of Sulawesi, and is famous among underwater pho-tographers for being home to all sorts of rare and unusual marine species. The Banggai cardinalfish was originally edemic to Indonesia’s Banggai Islands, about 400km away from Lembeh. They were found only there - and in many aquariums around the world. This is a popular species in the aquarium trade, and has been intensely collected. Some believe local populations have been depleted to 10% by collectors. They have now established a fin-hold in Lembeh, probably intro-duced by fish collectors / traders, and they seem to be adapting well to their new home.To make this picture, I first scouted a number of different dive sites, calling upon the experience and eagle eyes of local dive guides. Then the challenge was to choose the most photogenic setup. I finally found this group of cardinalfish hovering around a beautiful purple sea anemone, Heteractis magnifica. I knew that this was where I wanted to photograph. But it took a couple of long dives, one lasting nearly two hours, before everything came together. For much of the time, the fish were chaotically swimming about, no real symmetry or order to their aggregation. I had to wait for the current to pick up, which caused the 5-cm long fish to move into formation.

Photographer: Brandon ColeImage number: 01404322

Wilderness FoxArgentine grey / Patagonian fox (Lycalopex griseus) in its habitat, Torres del Paine National Park, Chile.

Photographer quote:

I was exploring Torres del Paine in Chile, when I came across this Patagonian fox by complete accident. The animal was so ap-proachable that I was able to shoot with a short lens, zooming out from a metre away to include as much of the surrounding land-scape as possible. I had gone to photograph Andean condors but this was one of my favourite images from the trip.

Photographer: Ben HallImage number: 01423128

Open Wide!

[Left] Banded jawfish (Opistognathus macrognathus) male incu-bating eggs in mouth, which are at a late stage of development and will soon be ready for release. West Palm Beach, Gulf Stream, West Atlantic Ocean, Florida, USA.

[Right] A male Yellow-headed jawfish (Opistognathus aurifrons) blowing out a clutch of eggs he has been incubating in his mouth in order to oxygenate them, East End, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands, Caribbean Sea.

Photographer quote:

These two were taken at different times and places, and show two species of jawfish brooding eggs. Mouthbrooding is not common in fish, but does occur in a number of unrelated families of fish. People often think of fish as food and little else. I like to capture fascinating natural behaviours in my photos to remind people there is a little more to our finned friends. In jawfish it is the male that cares for the eggs, holding them in his mouth for about a week until they are ready to hatch.Usually the males are quite cautious when they have eggs, so I was particularly pleased to get the photo showing the male swimming up into open water with eggs right out of his mouth. About every 15 minutes the males blow the eggs out of their mouths like this to help them get oxygen.

Photographer: Alex MustardImage number: 01378952, 01413028

Cruising TurtleGreen Turtle, (Chelonia mydas), Swimming over volcanic sandy bottom, Armeñime Cove, South Tenerife coast, Canary Islands, Spain.

Photographer quote:

Armeñime, a small cove off the south coast of Tenerife, is a hotspot for green sea turtles. They forage there on the plentiful seagrass and are used to divers. I cruised with this one in the shallow, gin-clear water over black volcanic sand. The dazzling colours, sym-metry and textured patterns were mesmerising and I was able to compose a picture to show just how beautiful this marine treasure is.

Photographer: Jordi ChiasImage number: 01405551

Curious OstrichSomali ostrich (Struthio camelus massaicus) peering beneath itself, Samburu Game Reserve, Kenya, East Africa

Photographer: Mary McDonaldImage number: 01403829

Owl Family Great Grey Owl (Strix nebulosa) adult and chicks on nest. Nest ‘frame’ is manmade. Ostersund, Sweden.

Photographer quote:

Sitting in a tree hide 4 meters above the ground in windy condi-tions can be an interesting experience; however when there is a great grey owl nest only 15 meters away it takes things to a whole new level. Watching these magnificent birds go about their daily business is so captivating that hours fly by like minutes. It’s amaz-ing to see the affection that the adult birds give to owlets while they wait for their mate to return with food. Or how the owlets huddle together to keep warm when they are left alone in the nest.. Although one adult is never far from the nest and ready to defend it from predators at all times.Great grey owls only nest in years when there are high numbers of rodents, so opportunities to observe their behavior at the nest is somewhat limited. This was obviously a particular good year for the rodent population as there are five owlets in this nest which is very unusual.Even with 18-20 hours of daylight the boreal forest can be a dark place. The owls are at their most active from around 8pm in the evening until 8am the following morning. So fast lenses and high ISO’s are needed to capture a lot of the interaction between the adult birds and the owlets.

Photographer: Andy TrowbridgeImage number: 01405895

Tug-o-War

Polar bear cubs (Ursus maritimus) play tug-o-war with a piece of whale remains during freeze up, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska, USA.

Photographer quote:

It was amazing to spend time with these two yearling cubs and their mother over a period of a week. I was able to spend almost every day with them as their mother was waiting for the autumn freeze-up to take them out onto the ice to hunt. In the meantime, they were in the area feeding on a bowhead whale carcass. Being such small creatures, these two were always able to get their fill quickly, so much of their time was devoted to play. They often played tag with one another, and here we see a game of tug o’ war using a sturdy piece of sinew. The mother realized that I was not a threat and often left the cubs closer to me than they were to her, while she fed. This afforded me great photo opportunities and I was also blessed to have amazing light and clouds during the week I spent with them.

Photographer: Steven KazlowskiImage number: 01407533

Trio of Cubs

Brown Bear (Ursus arctos) cubs, three standing in a line on their hind legs. Finland.

Photographer quote:

This image was taken in the east of Finland on the Russian border, in a region called Suomussalmi. I have been visiting this region for many years as it is excellent for the European Brown Bear. This beautiful mammal is doing well in Finland unlike other countries of western Europe where its numbers have drastically declined. Last July I got the opportunity to photograph a female who had three young cubs. These youngsters would copy their mothers ev-ery move and when a large male wandered into the clearing where they were feeding the female reacted by standing up for a better view. Her three cubs followed suit I managed to grab a couple of frames. It was over in a couple of seconds.These youngsters stand a good chance of survival with such an attentive mother.

Photographer: Danny GreenImage number: 01408903

Food Fight!

Lammergeier / Bearded Vulture (Gypaetus barbatus) calling at a Thick Billed Raven (Corvus crassirostris) as it lands. Simien Na-tional Park, Ethiopia, East Africa.

Photographer quote:

The struggle for food in the wilderness is ever-present. And here, in the Simien Mountains in Ethiopia, the prospect of finding a meal is an uncertainty for many animals. Ravens are scavengers and have a wide and varied diet, ensuring their success in environments where food is scarce. Bearded vultures, on the other hand, have a specialised diet, feed-ing mostly on bone marrow. This shot shows the tense moment when a raven attempts to claim the precious bone the vulture has secured for itself.

Photographer: Juan Carlos MunozImage number: 01410629

Fishing Egret

Snowy Egret (Egretta thula) reflected in water. Everglades National Park, Florida, USA.

Photographer quote:

The hunting strategy of herons relies on immobility - but when I came across this egret in Everglades National Park, I was struck by the contrast in the scene - the bird standing still, moving only its eyes, and the movement of the water beneath it.By chosing this composition I was able to capture both in the same image.

Photographer: Juan Carlos MunozImage number: 01404796

Riding the StormCommon Raven (Corvus corax) huddled down amidst snow storm, Utajarvi, Finland.

Photographer quote:

This is taken in Central Finland, close to the Arctic circle in Feb-ruary; the heart of northern winter. It had already been snowing for some time and from the weather forecast I knew a storm was brewing. This is good news to a nature photographer as the raging elements add an extra dimension to a bird image.The hard wind was whipping the light, fresh snow back up in the air, and the swirling flurry framed the Raven eloquently. Normally very alert, skittish even, this Raven was just riding the storm, either confident or hopeful that any potential enemy was doing the same.

Photographer: Markus VaresvuoImage number: 01412537

Bugs & Boulders

[Top left] Horsefly (Philipomyia aprica) Aosta Valley, Monte Rosa Massif, Pennine Alps, Italy.

Photographer: Alex HydeImage number: 01412738

[Top right] Snakefly (Agulla sp) in flight, Wild Basin Preserve, Tex-as, USA.

Photographer: John AbbottImage number: 01362426

[Bottom row] Moeraki Boulder / Kaihinaki on Koekohe Beach at sunrise. 60 Million year old mudstone concretions. Moeraki, Wait-aki District, Otago Region, South Island, New Zealand.

Photographer: Andy TrowbridgeImage number: 01405916 & 01405920

Sparring PartnersRuff (Philomachus pugnax) two males displaying in territorial dis-pute, Liminka, Finland.

Photographer quote:

Liminganlahti Bay is an internationally important bird area (IBA) and one of Finland’s 49 Ramsar wetland sites; the only Ramsar Wetland Centre in Finland. Situated on the northwest coast of Finland, with post-glacial rebound (rising of land), Liminganlahti offers great breeding grounds for waders.The ruff portrays an interesting deviation from typical wader dis-play behaviour. The males gather together to compete against each other and when the females start arriving at the lek (breed-ing) site, the fighting can get very intense, even drawing blood.Most, although not all ruff males have a distinct breeding plumage with larger than normal variation from one individual to another. The birds look much like actors in a Shakespearean play.The soft, warm glow of the northern evening light emphasizes the elaborate and handsome features in these two sparring males.

Photographer: Markus VaresvuoImage number: 01412546

Leaf BurdenTexas leafcutter ant (Atta texana) workers carrying leaves during rain, New Braunfels, Central Texas, USA

Photographer: Rolf NussbaumerImage number: 01408442

Fish Catch

Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) flying up from water with caught fish, Worcestershire, UK.

Photographer: Danny GreenImage number: 01408928

Slippery CustomerBohemian waxwing (Bombycilla garrulus) feeding on berries, Uto, Finland October.

Photographer quote:

Waxwings are skilled acrobatics, deftly balancing on thin branches while picking berries, which is not as easy as one would think, con-sidering the birds only have their bills to handle the slick berries with.Here the Waxwing had picked a rowanberry, had it in its bill but the berry slipped back out. As quick as lighting, the bird shot after the berry, without losing its grip on the branch, and re-caught the elusive berry.

Photographer: Markus VaresvuoImage number: 01412589

Hung Out to Dry

Central American Spider Monkey (Ateles geoffroyi) orphan baby hanging from washing line. El Mirador- Rio Azul National Park, Department of Peten, Guatemala.

Photographer quote:

This image was made in the El Mirador workers’ base camp. El Mirador, deep in the jungle of the Peten region in northern Gua-temala, is the biggest Mayan site and dates to Pre Classic times. This monkey was being kept as a pet by some of the workers, apparently his mother had been killed. Every day they let him out of captivity for a while and he climbed amongst the hanged under-wear. Primates are wild animals, not pets. When I looked into this young-ster’s face I saw a sad animal, detached from its family, detached from the rainforest behind, hanging just like a piece of old cloth...

Photographer: Claudio ContrerasImage number: 01407738

Mouth to Mouth

Feral Pigeon (Columba livia) drinking from Fonte Gaia (Fountain of Joy) fountain. Piazza del Campo, Sienna, Italy.

Photographer quote:

I was running a photography workshop in Tuscany which included a day in the beautiful but very touristy town of Sienna. Whilst my group were photographing the old buildings around the Piazza del Campo I noticed the feral pigeons drinking from the Fonte Gaia (Fountain of Joy). Part of the fountain included the carved heads of Alsatian dogs, with water spouting from their mouths. This pro-vided the perfect place for the pigeons to perch easily and have a drink. They jostled for the best position upon the dogs nose! It was a strange sight and one that soon attracted the attention of the many tourists surrounding me. Once they noticed what I was photographing out came the phone cameras!

Photographer: Guy EdwardesImage number: 01420398

Young to Old

[Left] Child cooling off with water during the hottest time of year in monsoon season and [Right] Elderly woman in traditional dress, both in Sundarbans National Park, Bangladesh, UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Photographer: Enrique Lopez-TapiaImage number: 01409587 & 01409589

Steam & Stars

Clepsydra Geyser taken at night, Yellowstone National Park, USA.

Photographer quote:

To create this image I used a long exposure (30 seconds), giving a unique view of the Clepsydra Geyser taken by moon light. The stars are also visible in sky. This geyser is located in the Lower Geyser Basin of Yellowstone Na-tional Park in USA. The colourful deposits at the base of the geyser are chemosynthetic thermophile (heat-loving or tolerant)bacteria which do not require sunlight to thrive.

Photographer: Paul D StewartImage number: 01388418

The Chase

Grey wolf (Canis lupus) chasing a wounded tibetan wild ass (Equus kiang) Kekexili, Qinghai, China.

Photographer: Xi ZhinongImage number: 01410018See also: 01410017, 01410019

Hanging OutBlack and white ruffed lemur (Varecia variegata) hanging from tree, Madagascar, critically endangered.

Photographer: Nick GarbuttImage number: 01376599

Standing TallWild meerkats (Suricata suricatta) habituated to humans acting as sentry and standing alert on local guide’s head for height, Makga-dikgadi Pans, Kalahari desert, Botswana.

Photographer: Kristel RichardImage number: 01403432

Fun & Frolics

[Top left] Garden / Grove Snail (Cepaea nemoralis) on twig. Vosges, France.

Photographer: Fabrice CahezImage number: 01410574

[Top right] African Forest elephants (Loxodonta africana cyclotis) calves playing whilst visiting Dzanga Bai, Dzanga-Ndoki National Park, Central African Republic. Photographer: JabrusonImage number: 01409867

[Bottom left] Great Crested grebe (Podiceps cristatus) male dancing on top of the female after mating, she is submerged, La Dombes area, France.

Photographer: David PattynImage number: 01405418

[Bottom right] Red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris) walking along the edge of a woodland pool, Cairngorms NP, Scotland, UK.

Photographer: Mark HamblinImage number: 01403742

Title

Salmon landing on head of Grizzly bear (Ursus arctos horribilis) as it is leaping up rapids, Katmai National Park, Alaska, USA.

Photographer: Loic Poidevin; Image number: 01407402Purple gallinule (Porphyrio martinica) moving across waterlily covered surface, Everglades National Park, Florida, USA.

Photographer: George Sanker; Image number: 01401438

Lucky Salmon Dancing Gallinule

Bat CaveSchreiber’s long fingered bat (Miniopterus schreibersi) in flight in cave, Grotta Monte Majore, Sardinia, Italy.

Photographer: Solvin ZanklImage number: 01405587

Hare Running

European hare (Lepus europaeus) running in field, UK.

Photographer: Andy RouseImage number: 01402395 (left); 01402414

Hares & Otters

[Top left] European hare (Lepus europaeus) leveret jumping, UK.

Image number: 01402379

[Bottom left] European hare (Lepus europaeus) in grassy field, UK.

Image number: 01402344

[Top right] European otter (Lutra lutra) running head on, UK.

Image number: 01402434

[Bottom right] European Otter (Lutra lutra) in water. Wales, UK.

Image number: 01372439

Photographer: Andy Rouse

African Mammals & Sea Creatures

[Top left] Thomson Gazelle (Eudorcas thomsonii) male backlit in long grass. Masai Mara, Kenya, Africa.

Photographer: Andy RouseImage number: 01374872

[Top right] Amphipod (Iphimedia obesa) on top of a colony of Deadman’s fingers (Alcyonium digitatum) coral, Loch Carron, Ross and Cromarty, Scotland, UK Photographer: Alex Mustard/2020VISIONImage number: 01400204

[Bottom left] Common Zebra (Equus quagga) head detail portrait, Kruger National Park, South Africa.

Photographer: Neil AldridgeImage number: 01412326

[Bottom right] 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, Yucatan Peninsular, Mexico. Caribbean Sea.

Photographer: Alex MustardImage number: 01407124

Solar SwarmAerial image of solar energy power station in Salamanca Region, Castilla y Leon, Spain.

Photographer: Staffan WidstrandImage number: 01408301Search “Widstrand solar” (16 images)

Yellow is the New Red

Crimson Breasted Gonolek / Shrike (Laniarius atrococcineus) portrait of a rare yellow morph (on left, Hwange National Park Zimbabwe) and common counterpart (right, Kgalagadi TB Park of South Africa).

Photographer quote (left image):

We were near Main Camp in the North Eastern part of Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe when my friend Chris Fallows spotted the shrike/ gonolek. He has extensive birding knowledge and quickly realised the rarity of the find. So then it was up to me, with a long lens on my camera, to get some photos. This species prefers to stay within the foliage so getting a clear shot was not easy. Get-ting close enough was also a challenge; it took twenty minutes of stalking to get within range.

Photographer: Tony Heald (left); Charlie Sum-mers (right)Image number: 01411729, 01314539See also: 01411731, 01411730

British Birds

[Top left] Atlantic puffin (Fratercula arctica) stretching its wings on a cliff top, Sule Skerry, Scotland, UK.

Image number: 01403732Photographer: Danny Green/2020VISION

[Bottom left] Whooper swan (Cygnus cygnus) in snowfall. Martin Mere Wetlands Trust, Lancashire, UK.

Image number: 01404017Photographer: Ben Hall

[Top right] Barn swallow (Hirundo rustica) collecting mud for nest building, June, Scotland, UK.

Image number: 01400535Photographer: Mark Hamblin/2020VISION

[Bottom right] Grey heron (Ardea cinerea) beneath waterfall. Am-bleside, Lake District, UK, November.

Image number: 01404018Photographer: Ben Hall/2020VISION

To view the images in this PDF (and more) on our website click here