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)

A great crested grebe feeds a chick sitting on its mother’s back on a lake in Cáceres, Spain. (Photo by Jose Luis Ruiz/Solent News & Photo Agency)

Ring-tailed lemurs sit on the hood of a truck while snacking inside the Buin Zoo in Santiago, Chile, Tuesday, June 15, 2021. The largest private zoo in Chile, experiencing a serious economic situation due to the closure of its doors as a result of the prolonged quarantine measures, has started a campaign coined, “Sponsor an Animal”, to raise money to maintain the animals. (Photo by Esteban Felix/AP Photo)

Yanna Xian, 24, and her boyfriend Mitch Brown, 27, were swimming while on a boat tour off Honolulu, Hawaii last year, when a curious two-week-old humpback approached them. (Photo by South West News Service)

A protester poses for a photo in front of a burning barricade in Barcelona, Spain on February 17, 2021 as a protest following the imprisonment of rapper “Pablo Hasel” convicted to jail for glorifying terrorism and insulting Spain's former king in lyrics turns into riots for a second night. (Photo by Matthias Oesterle/ZUMA Wire/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

The king penguin in his moulting suit joins his waddle on their way to the water despite not being waterproof yet at Volunteer Point on the Falkland Islands, 2023. (Photo by Judy Rogero/Media Drum Images)

A plane battling the Ferguson Fire passes the setting sun in unincorporated Mariposa County Calif., near Yosemite National Park on Sunday, July 15, 2018. (Photo by Noah Berger/AP Photo)

Best portfolio winner. Roseate Spoonbill, Platalea ajaja, by Petr Bambousek, Czech Republic. (Photo by Petr Bambousek/2018 Bird Photographer of the Year)