WINKING SQUIRREL

BASKING in smug satisfaction, a confident squirrel gives a wink to the camera. After spending a morning stealing a stash of nuts and seed from his squirrel friends, he sits down to enjoy his well-earned lunch. The pictures of this cheeky squirrel were captured by emergency services worker Claire Hartley, 35, on a trip to Hartsholme Park, near Lincoln. “Several squirrels had been competing to get as many nuts as possible,” says Claire, of Lincoln.

Other great stories
ADORABLE EXOTIC KITTENS AT NASHVILLE ZOO

A BUMPER season of births has left zoo with three of the cutest exotic kittens you're likely to see .

OH DEER: MOMENT DEER CRASHES THROUGH WINDSCREEN OF BUS

With no luck at the front of the bus, the deer runs around the center seats trying to escape through the window – THIS is the astonishing moment a DEER crashed through the front windshield of a bus before it went hysterically running around the vehicle .

RING OF FIRE ECLIPSE IN OZ

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

PARTNERS IN GRIME

MASKED intruders look sinister but really they are a gang of urban exploring pranksters .

DAREDEVIL DIVERS HAVE A WHALE OF A TIME

SWIMMING next to 40 tonne whales, dare-devil divers take the plunge with these gentle giants of the sea .

ABANDONED CALIFORNIAN GOLD RUSH TOWN

A once bustling gold rush town in Mono County, California now stands completed deserted .

DERELICT MANSION

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

TAXIDERMY ART BOOK

A KITTEN'S teaparty and rat's playing dominoes are the bizarre creations by one of Britain's great eccentrics pictured in an incredible new book .

ADORABLE NEWBORN SEALS PLAY IN SNOW

WITH THEIR adorable big round eyes and fluffy white fur, these baby seals are cute enough to melt any heart .

ADORABLE OWLS CUDDLE UP FOR THE CAMERA

HUDDLED together on a branch, a pair of adorable Javan scops owls soak up the sun .

EASTER ISLAND REPLICA STATUES DESTROYED IN SEA FALL

A project to create an underwater tribute to the stone Moai statues of Easter Island ended in disaster when 15 replica structures were destroyed after toppling from a boat and into the sea .

STUNNING ICEBERGS

In the calm waters of Greenland, gigantic icebergs dwarf everything around them .