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.
LYING flat out on his back, this little meerkat makes the most of the English sunshine .
DIVING down at a speed of 75mph, this is the moment a hungry osprey caught his prey .
POWERFUL bolts of lightning illuminate the night sky in an incredible autumn storm over the Sardinian coastline .
BALANCING 30 metres above ground, these slackliners take the expression of living dangerously one step further, by tightrope walking NAKED .
MESMERIZING night sky photographs offer a spellbinding look at the stars .
From vivid greens to glowing pinks, the colours of the aurora borealis fill the night sky above a snow covered Lapland .
A panic stricken kitten that got her head stuck in a car tyre has been freed by quick thinking RSPCA staff .
A terrified moose, trapped in a frozen lake, bobs her head above the icey water and awaits her rescue .
COVERING themselves in ash and face paint, these are the holy men who live their lives away from everyday society .
Splashing around in the water, a mother otter and her son are tangled in a family feud .
This cheeky macaque gets up close and personal as he examines the dental hygiene of his fellow primate .