First place, The Beauty of Plants. “There are many stages of lotus growth on display at the Aquatic Gardens, but to come across twotwisted dancing stems of nelumbo nucifera was unexpected and quite magical”. (Photo by Kathleen Furey/The Guardian)

People struggle with the wind as they cross the street under the rain as typhoon Mitag is expected to hit northern Taiwan, in Keelung, Taiwan, 30 September 2019. According to report, Typhoon Mitag will disrupt air, land and water traffic. Mitag is located at sea about 290 kilometers off the south-southeast of Yilan County, moving at 27 kilometers per hour at a northwesterly direction, with maximum sustained winds of 126 kilometers per hour, with gusts of up to 162 kilometers per hour, and with a radius of 180 kilometers, according to Taiwan Central Weather Bureau. (Photo by Ritchie B. Tongo/EPA/EFE/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A view of the Lakhta Center multifunctional complex under construction in St Petersburg' s Primorsky District and a cable stayed bridge of the Western High- Speed Diameter toll motorway in St Petersburg, Russia on March 5, 2018. (Photo by EPA/EFE/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A woman eats and struggles with her umbrella against powerful gusts of wind generated by typhoon Megi across the the island in Taipei, Taiwan, Tuesday, September 27, 2016. Schools and offices have been closed on Taiwan and people in dangerous areas have been evacuated as a large typhoon with 162 kilometers (100 miles) per-hour winds approaches the island. (Photo by Chiang Ying-ying/AP Photo)

A photographer in Somerset, South West England captured the mating rituals of toads as several males attempt to mate with one female all at once. (Photo by John Waters/NPL)

This month’s selection of travel imagery mixes quiet moments and superlative views. The overall 2018 prize is a West Greenland trip with Wild Photography Holidays. Here: “This was taken on a safari in Kruger national park, South Africa. The scene was like something straight out of a storybook: a wild baboon, impala and elephant crossing the road together, all lined up neatly in a row”. (Photo by Will Clarke/The Guardian)

New Year's Eve revellers from Asia with Australian flags and balloons in the shape of the new year 2020 in Sydney, Australia on December 31, 2019. (Photo by Richard Milnes/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A woman holds piles of vegetables transported by motorcycle along a street in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on January 22, 2020. (Photo by Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP Photo)