Pinning a purple flower into her bleach blonde hair, pretty Ava admired herself in the mirror. She had every reason to be proud. In the space of a year, she had lost an incredible 17 stone. Her weight dropped from 37st 1lbs to 19st 7lbs, and she slipped into a dress before gazing at her newly svelte figure. With her smokey eye makeup and black skater dress, she could have been glamming up for a night on the tiles with her girlfriends. Instead, it was Halloween, 2013, and Ava was hiding a huge secret. Born a boy named William, it was the first time she had ever dressed as a girl – and everything fell into place.
At least three people have been killed and more than 100 injured, some seriously, in two explosions at the finish line of the Boston Marathon .
UNDERWATER and above-water seaside shots show the best of British beach-life .
The aurora lights captured in Blair Nebraska, America - WITH electrifying purple and illuminous green brightening up the night sky, this is the rare moment a flash of 'sprite' lightening was captured on camera .
BREATHING life back into old photographs, these black and white images are transformed by colour .
VIBRANT bursts of colour fill the screen as beautiful flowers blossom in these time-lapse videos .
WITH THEIR adorable big round eyes and fluffy white fur, these baby seals are cute enough to melt any heart .
A pair of BEAUTIFUL rescue sea turtles spot their catch in the waters of the Great Barrier Reef .
These adorable pictures show the moment two cuddly red panda cubs take their first look at the outside world and are weighed for the very first time .
An American black bear mimics John Travolta’s famous Saturday Night Fever dance move by hurling its arm in the air .
From vivid greens to glowing pinks, the colours of the aurora borealis fill the night sky above a snow covered Lapland .
Exploding out of the water, a great white shark performs a backflip during a hunt for seals .
