NATURE'S MOST STUNNING SHAPES AND PATTERNS

FROM ICE bubbles to boiling lava, these photographs highlight the stunning shapes and patterns found in nature. The series of extraordinary images were taken by German software engineer Thorsten Scheuermann after he decided to examine his surroundings. A trip to the city of Kalapana in Hawaii, home to the Kilauea Volcano, provided Thorsten with the setting for his lava picture, while a visit to the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon offered him the opportunity to photograph ice bubbles up-close. The 37-year-old, now of Washington, USA, said: 'These are sights that can gain greater significance and have their beauty exposed when excluding everything else around them.'

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NINJA RED SQUIRREL

A NINJA red squirrel cuts a dashing figure as the little fella jumps up to ten-feet between treetops in the Yorkshire Dales .

DADDY DAY CARE: CARDINALFISH FATHER CARRIES EGGS IN MOUTH

It’s a role reversal in the Visayan Sea as HUNDREDS of tiny, glistening eggs are carried around inside the mouth of their cardinalfish father .

PAWS FOR THOUGHT: POLAR BEAR RELAXES IN SNOW

STARING intently into the camera, a polar bear appears to be lost in thought while relaxing in the snow .

BASHFUL ORANGUTAN

A young orangutan comes over all shy as she hides her face behind a broken bucket .

THIRSTY SQUIRREL TAKES A BREAK

DIPPING his head into the vase of water, this little squirrel takes a refreshing break from an afternoon of eating .

ENGLISH SEASIDE SPLIT SHOTS

From a floating jelly fish to a relaxed seal, Britain’s unappreciated beach life is captured above and below the water .

DERELICT MANSION

With an abandoned tricycle sitting in an empty corridor, this derelict but once grand mansion could be the setting for The Shining .

WAVES FROZEN IN TIME

Beautiful turquoise waves rise and fall in a series of stunning images taken along the coastline of south-eastern Australia .

RING OF FIRE ECLIPSE IN OZ

THIS RING of fire in the sky is the annular solar eclipse that wowed our cousins down-under .

SQUIRRELS SQUABBLE OVER LUNCH

SQUABBLING over the last piece of grain, these hungry squirrels are determined to stock up on as much food as possible .

SURREAL WILDLIFE

AN EXERCISING turtle and an ice-skating chick are hardly everyday exploits in the animal community .

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE BUG KIND

THIS alien-like bug would look more at home in outer-space but it can actually be found wriggling around here on Earth .