A large sunflower field, which could not be mowed this year due to the water level, attracted thousands of bird species this winter, mostly greenfinches, goldfinches and bramblings.

Photograph: Mateusz Piesiak

Just before monsoon, fireflies congregate in certain regions of India. Sometimes milllions of these insects can be found on a few special trees like this one. Thirty-two photographs of this tree were taken and later stacked in Adobe Photoshop, creating this image.

Photograph: Prathamesh

Three levels of leisure: swimmers, freedivers and divers enjoy their respective sport and recreational activities in a fresh water mass known locally as the Cenotes.

Photograph: Joram Mennes

Incessant rains in the Masai Mara national reserve in Kenya have caused the the Talek river to flood. This group of five male cheetahs, who received the nickname ‘Tano Bora’ ( the fast five), were looking to cross this river in terrifyingly powerful currents. ‘It seemed a task doomed to failure and we were delighted when they made it to the other side,’ De Soyza said. ‘This was a timely reminder of the damage wreaked by human induced climate change.’

Photograph: Buddhilini de Soyza

A female western lowland gorilla, Malui, walks through a cloud of butterflies she has disturbed in Bai Hokou, Dzanga Sangha special dense forest reserve, Central African Republic. ‘I like photos that keep dragging you in. The face. Tolerance or bliss. It’s really hard to tell and the insects draw you there,’ said the celebrity judge Ben Folds.

Photograph: Anup Shah

The carcass of a Pantanal alligator in the dry soil on the banks of the Transpantaneira highway, municipality of Poconé (Mato Grosso). The photo was taken with a drone on 4 October 2020, at the height of the droughts that hit the Pantanal that year.

Photograph: Daniel De Granville

Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya. During the frenzy of crossing the Mara River, the wildebeests were leaping, kicking, scampering, and bucking.

Photograph: Anup Shah

A guide in the Sahara desert endures a sand storm.

Photograph: Tom Overall

Orangutans in Indonesia are under threat from the ongoing depletion of the rainforest due to palm oil plantations, logging, mining, hunting. This photograph shows a team of rescue workers preparing Brenda, a female orangutan who is estimated to be three months old as she still has no teeth, for surgery.

Photograph: Alain Schroeder

‘Covid-19 wastes’ are a new danger to aquatic life. According to a World Wildlife Fund report, an equivalent to 33,880 plastic bottles is being mixed into the Mediterranean Sea per minute, with waste washing up on the shores of Italy and Turkey.

Photograph: Şebnem Coşkun

The photo was taken in the winter of 2019 in Iceland.

Photograph: Man Wai Wong

‘In a helicopter flight through the sea mountain range, I came across this white cloud cover, which resulted in this magnificent image that resembles the head of a dinosaur,’ the photographer said.

Photograph: Denis Ferreira

Orangutans are accustomed to live on trees and feed on wild fruits like lychees, mangosteens, and figs, and slurp water from holes in trees.

Photograph: Thomas Vijayan

Lush green mangroves line the mud flats accentuated by the tidal waters and months of rain filling the artesian basin. Gulf of Carpentaria in tropical north Queensland.

Photograph: Scott Portelli

Arifujjaman often explores water in his work.

Photograph: Kazi

A pike tries to eat a large perch. “How did this end? I don’t know. The situation didn’t change much in an hour,’ Vrbovsky said. ‘I had to emerge because I was running out of air.’

Photograph: Viktor Vrbovský

At Hung Hom, the rising of full moon could be found every month thanks to its facing the east.

Photograph: Kim-pan Dennis Wong

‘If you have flown into San Francisco international airport, you may have seen these colourful salt ponds over the bay,’ Todorov said. ‘I have photographed them numerous times, as the colours and patterns constantly change thanks to microorganisms and salinity. This aerial image was taken while flying my plane.’

Photograph: Jassen Todorov