STAR-TI-LING: 40,000 STARLINGS MIMIC HITCHCOCK'S THE BIRDS- This could be the fearsome scene from Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds as a flock of 40,000 starlings bask in the heat of a wonderful British sunset. The extraordinary light and shadows echoes the 1960s hit film as huge numbers of the birds appear ready to descend and attack earth below. Fortunately it was actually a far more peaceful setting on Brighton Pier as the amazing murmuration of the birds gathered around the coastline of the seaside resort. They swooped around in the winter sun in February this year, as captured by Hove based photographer Alan Mackenzie. He said despite the large numbers of birds, they have dramatically dwindled in recent decades.Alan, 32, said: "Moments like this make me proud to live on such a beautiful planet and appreciative of the fact that, as a human living in the modern world, I am privileged enough to observe it all
These beautiful photographs show how these playful pods of dolphins make their own fun by gliding, flipping and spinning through the air whilst enjoying the sun on their backs .
HOTSPOT MEDIA - MILEY MASH-UP: MILEY CYRUS’ naked wrecking ball vid has been lampooned in this side-spitting photo-mashup .
LYING back in the snow, these two polar bears share a cuddle as they call time out on playtime .
From giant mountains to vast deserts, an American photographer spent a year capturing the diverse and beautiful landscape of the United States .
AT first glance these images could easily be mistaken for photographs, but they are in-fact real life drawings created using nothing but coloured pencils .
An Italian photographer travelled to northern India where he visited poverty stricken suburbs and captured ordinary people in a series of intimate and expressive portraits .
BURSTING colours of reds, pinks and purples give the illusion of a collection of stunning flowers .
SWIMMING slowly towards the shore, a small group of bottlenose dolphins arrive for breakfast at a beach in Western Australia .
A young otter wades through a lake with his eyes set on an older rival’s fish .
Exploding out of the water, a great white shark performs a backflip during a hunt for seals .
An Indonesian farmer is dragged through muddy water as he clings to the tails of two charging cows .