Highly commended birds : Crested guan by Tim Hunt (UK). ‘This photo shows a crested guan in the cloud forests of Costa Rica as it pauses while foraging on a lone branch. Due to the clouds that are so typical for this habitat, I could often only photograph the bird’s silhouette against a grey sky. But then, for a short moment only, the sun broke through the clouds, and I overexposed the image by over two stops in order to blow out the background and allow this beautifully marked bird to stand out’. (Photo by Tim Hunt/GDT European Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2015)

From house breaking in Johannesburg to hippos on the loose in Tbilisi to rioters attacking a policewoman in Burundi, Reuters photographers tell the story behind some of the most iconic pictures of the year. Here: Protesters drag a female police officer accused of shooting a protester in the Buterere neighbourhood of Bujumbura, Burundi, May 12, 2015. Goran Tomasevic: Protesters started throwing stones at a group of police, who then started to run away. The policewoman in the photo, Medikintos Inabeza, 33, got left behind and then some protesters started to push her, saying that she had shot a female protestor in the stomach with an AK47 rifle. I didn't see anything of that. There were 5 or 10 protesters pushing the policewoman at first, then others came and joined in. Up to 20 or 30 protesters were surrounding her at one point. The protesters kicked and beat her very badly; I also saw a couple of knives. I thought they were going to kill her... (Photo by Goran Tomasevic/Reuters)

People stand around a leopard with its head stuck in a vessel in Rajsamand district of Rajasthan state, India, Wednesday, September 30, 2015. The leopard's head got stuck when it attempted to drink water from the pot, according to news reports. Forest officials tranquilized the animal and sawed off the vessel later in the day. (Photo by Kabir Jethi/AP Photo)

Hardy Dutch swimmers brave the icy North Sea on January 1, 2012 in Scheveningen, Netherlands. A record number of 10,000 people took the plunge in this year's traditional New Year's dip. The high turnout was attributed to the mild weather with a sea temperature of 8 degrees compared to 4 degrees last year. (Photo by Jasper Juinen/Getty Images)

A woman reacts as she joins around a thousand New Year swimmers, many in costume, braved freezing conditions in the River Forth in front of the Forth Rail Bridge during the annual Loony Dook Swim on January 1, 2013 in South Queensferry, Scotland. Thousands of people gathered last night to see in the New Year at Hogmanay celebrations in towns and cities across Scotland. (Photo by Jeff J. Mitchell)

Women dressed in traditional Chinese costumes wait perform in celebration of the Chinese New Year at the Nankinmachi square, China Town on February 8, 2016 in Kobe, Japan. In Nankinmachi, the district known as Kobe Chinatown, tourists enjoyed Chinese food, lion dance and the parade organized to celebrate the Lunar New Year. (Photo by Buddhika Weerasinghe/Getty Images)

Koreans spin fire cans during “Jwibulnoli” a South Korean folk game at Han River on February 5, 2012 in Seoul, South Korea. The event is part of a “Daeboreum”, a Korean holiday that celebrates the first full moon of the lunar new year. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)

Spectators pass through security screening ahead of the New Year's Eve celebration in Times Square in New York, on Sunday, December 31, 2017. (Photo by Peter Morgan/AP Photo)