PERCHED on a branch, this Little Owl plays third wheel to two love birds. Clearly not bothered by their uncomfortable onlooker, the owls pucker up and put on a very public display of affection. This trio of Little Owls were photographed by Uzbek photographer Ilia Shalamaev, 36, after he spotted the scene on a trip to the town of Kiryat Gat, Israel. “Here you can see a family of owls playing and having fun on a branch, not far from their nesting place,” says Ilia, now of Beit Hashmonay, Israel.
It's incredible to think anyone could live in such horrendous squalor - yet two men have been prosecuted for keeping their homes in such revolting conditions that it was no longer fit for their animals .
FLAUNTING its new accessory, a fashionable green dumpy tree frog poses for the camera while wearing a SNAIL as a hat .
A trio of ants are locked in a tug of war over a fly as they pull the bug by its legs .
A northern potoo shows it is a master of disguise as it perches on a tree stump and blends into the bark .
Jostling their quills into the noses of some unlucky cubs, this is the moment two feisty porcupines ALMOST defeat a pride of seven lions .
TOMORROW (Saturday) marks the 28th anniversary of the nuclear disaster that left the city of Chernobyl devastated .
SAILING peacefully across a river in the early morning light, a fisherman in China keeps a 1000 year old tradition alive .
An aerial view of flooding in Gloucestershire .
A grey whale and her calf greet an audience of awestruck admirers on the Pacific coast of Baja California Sur, Mexico .