HMS Ark Royal arrives in the Turkish port of Aliaga at the ship scrapping firm Leyal’s yard. The former flagship of the Royal Navy will now be turned into slabs of steel and sold by the Kilo. The 22,000 ton ship, which carried 22 aircraft and had a complement of 1,051, was retired five years ahead of schedule in 2011, a high-profile casualty of the government’s controversial defence cuts. Tears were shed when, after more than a quarter of a century of service, Britain’s most famous warship left Portsmouth last month and began her final solemn journey.The mighty aircraft carrier was sold to ship recycling firm Leyal for £2.9m, where it now faces the ultimate indignity of being taken apart like a scrapped second hand car.
From vivid greens to glowing pinks, the colours of the aurora borealis fill the night sky above a snow covered Lapland .
Sitting all alone on drift ice in the Arctic Ocean, this lonely little fella looks lost .
IN THE not so MISTY MOUNTAINS of Wiltshire, there lies an abandoned hobbit house .
TUGGING on the wing of his sibling, this needy owl is after some attention .
A young orangutan comes over all shy as she hides her face behind a broken bucket .
Splashing around in the water, a mother otter and her son are tangled in a family feud .
Raising his arms above his head and lying flat on his back, a polar bear stretches as he sprawls out across the ice .
CAUSING a splash, this determined kingfisher goes hunting for dinner .
STOOD side by side next to a busy road, these buildings were once bustling with life .
A group of otters put on a show of aqua aerobics, as they raise their flippers perfectly in sync .
WITH the phosphorescent blobs and mesmerising patterns, these spectacular images may look like the hall marks of an enchanted forest but it is in fact the scene of thousands of dancing FIREFLIES .