Nature – first prize, stories. Pandemic Pigeons – A Love Story. The photographer’s daughter, Merel, cowers after Dollie flies past and perches on the balcony before entering the house in Vlaardingen in the Netherlands on 6 April 2020. “She’s still frightened when Dollie suddenly lands on the balcony railing. I hide my smile behind the camera, as I try to comfort her by saying they won’t hurt you. “I thought he was going to attack me”, she replies. As the nesting pigeons keep coming back to our place, slowly my girls have started to appreciate them – perhaps not as much as I do, but it’s a start”. (Photo by Jasper Doest/World Press Photo 2021)

A 40-tonne humpback launching out of the water in an incredible breach in New South Wales, Australia on October 2022 in front of a sunset. The humpback whale can grow up to 56 feet long and typically covers 9,900 miles a year as it travels through the oceans of the world. Humpback whales are a species of Baleen whale, meaning they don't have teeth. Instead, they have baleen which helps them to filter feed. Their main source of food is krill or tiny bait fish. (Photo by Jodie Lowe/Media Drum Images)

A delegate from the indigenous Maasai community blows a horn and wears an ostrich feathers headgear as he arrives for the Africa Climate Summit (ACS) 2023 at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) in Nairobi, Kenya on September 6, 2023. (Photo by Monicah Mwangi/Reuters)

A child performs in the mutton bustin (sheep riding) at the rodeo performance of the 76th annual Cloverdale Rodeo and Country Fair in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, on May 18, 2024. (Photo by Xinhua News Agency/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A woman cries after a supporter of opposition leader Raila Odinga was killed by police, witnesses said, in Mathare slum in Nairobi, Kenya August 9, 2017. (Photo by Goran Tomasevic/Reuters)

A Boeing 777-300 from Swiss International Airlines lands on a foggy morning at Zurich Airport, on Friday, October 13, 2017, in Zurich, Switzerland. The high humidity renders the air vortex visible. (Photo by Christian Merz/Keystone via AP Photo)

A Mexican tourist ended up with broken ribs after attempting to make the most of a photo opportunity with some deer in October 2023. Gian Carlo Triacca, 42, was on holiday in Greece when he was attacked from behind. His wife, Erika, 40, managed to record the moment the deer charged. (Photo by Gian Carlo Triacca/Caters News Agency)

The males, of the Oriental Garden species, are battling over territory in Solapur in the Maharashtra state, India on May 20, 2022. Occasionally, the tussle can be brutal, ending in a fatality with one lizard biting another to encourage them to retreat. (Photo by Ratnakar Hiremath/Solent News)