Mother nature can be a cruel mistress indeed, but she can also be a beautiful and jazzy siren showing her incredible gaudy petticoat to all and sundry of a Friday evening. Who can forget those enchanting images of the 10 weirdest spiders in the world? Or the frankly bewildering footage of the creepy behemoths below the surface of the oceans?

Here’s a selection of the finalists for this years Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. This yearly photo race is organised and judged by the Natural History Museum in London and it never fails to wow.

These talented photographers have witnessed some of the most amazing facets of the natural world and lovingly snapped them for you to gorp at. If these finalists don’t make you want to strip naked and run into the wild I don’t know what’s wrong with you…

‘Yellow-Necked Mouse’ by Carsten Braun

‘Winter Hares’ by David Tipling

‘Whats This’ by Peter Mather

‘View of Tokyo’ by Olivier Puccia

‘Too Big But So Tasty’ by Alain Ghignone

‘Stretching’ by Stephan Tuengler