The first sighting of a seal pup has been announced by National Trust rangers on the Farne Islands off the Northumberland coast. Every year more than 1,500 pups are born on the islands, home to one of the largest Atlantic grey seal colonies in England with a population estimated at 5,000.
Photograph: National Trust

Redshanks land at Oare marshes in the Thames estuary, Faversham, Kent. The estuary offers harbour for resident and migratory birds.
Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

A butterfly sucks nectar from a flower in Kashmir, north India.
Photograph: Farooq Khan/EPA

A duck swims in a pond in Tiergarten, Berlin, Germany.
Photograph: Omer Messinger/EPA

An autumn horse chestnut tree in Green Park, London.
Photograph: Matthew Chattle/Rex/Shutterstock

An Atlantic salmon leaps upstream over a cauld on the Ettrick, a tributary of the Tweed, in Selkirk, Scotland.
Photograph: Chris Strickland/Alamy

A roaring, rutting stag chases hinds at Glenfalloch estate, Inverarnan, Stirling, Scotland.
Photograph: Murdo Macleod for the Guardian