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.
If you had to scrape the snow off your car this morning or slip-slide your way into work over icy pavements spare a thought for these little critters .
With an abandoned tricycle sitting in an empty corridor, this derelict but once grand mansion could be the setting for The Shining .
A mother-of-four has revealed how her daughter tragically took her own life after being subjected to horrific abuse at the hands of her ex-partner .
A little caterpillar fearlessly scampers down a branch and confronts a praying mantis .
Jostling their quills into the noses of some unlucky cubs, this is the moment two feisty porcupines ALMOST defeat a pride of seven lions .
Beautiful turquoise waves rise and fall in a series of stunning images taken along the coastline of south-eastern Australia .
Leaping out of the ocean, a group of gentoo penguins fly through the air before landing safely on an iceberg .
Exibiting their superhuman strength these ants look ready to create an art attack by lifting pencils several thousand times their own weight .
An adorable young fallow deer peers over its shoulder and is greeted by a cheeky jackdaw crow sitting on its back .
An adorable red squirrel says goodbye to the summer as he shelters from the rain underneath a small blue umbrella .