Throughout 2021 we asked our readers to send in their pictures on a variety of themes. Here is a selection of the best of those we received from around the world.
Ryan Ketterer took this picture for the theme 'under the stars' from Mount Graham in Arizona, USA.Justin Saculles: "Summer the whippet expressing her happiness in lockdown, by catching her favourite treats."Tara Lowry: "Some summertime fun with Spanish sunflowers in Andalusia."Ravi Ranjan: "Art on the beach - twisting a champagne bottle cork and muselet into a 3D doodle."Kelley J Curran: "Fun shooting with my pal Rachel, flashback to the 80s!"Kathy Williams: "A scarab beetle makes tracks through the dunes of the Erg Chebbi desert in Morocco."Alex Bond took this picture, Escaping Bubbles.Oliver Kupferschmidt: "A freshly-hatched lizard explores the outskirts of Berlin in early summer. Photographed in a girl's hand."Annie Roper called this photo Mini-me-lism: "Inspired by stories like The Borrowers, this image is created by superimposing a self-portrait into a small-scale scene. Made in the height of lockdown last year, this project allowed me to go on big adventures in my suddenly tiny world."Alexander Henshaw: "When you've travelled as far as land can take you, just sit and soak it in, that's all there is to do."Natasha Everson-Williams: "I can't get enough of my favourite food - pasta. Here is a plate of lemon, courgette and crispy caper pasta for a lockdown lunch."Stuart Harrison: "We adopted Stevie from a cat rescue centre during the pandemic in June 2020, and he has settled, as this recent picture shows."Hamish Couper: "Long-tailed tit fledglings quarrelling on a branch in a north Oxford woodland. The range of expressions is striking, as they tussle for best position to receive food from their parents/carers."Patrick Dixon: "A squirrel on the DIY bird feeder my son made."James Buttenshaw: "Ladybirds sheltering in the top of an old fence post by the side of a corn field in Hertfordshire."Leah Burton: "A family Covid catch-up while sheltering from the sea air blowing over the seafront in Weston."Chris Lee: "A lone figure strolls along Bregagh Road, Northern Ireland."