Photos of the day

Happy Easter!!

The total lunar eclipse, the first since December 2011, took place on Tuesday with the Americas best placed to get a glimpse. When the Earth's shadow falls across the moon, it shifts its colour to bright orange, depending on local weather conditions. When the moon is in shadow, our atmosphere refracts or bends some sunlight into its shadow. This light is mainly in the red area of the spectrum, hence the name 'Blood Moon'

An airliner passes in front of the moon above Whittier, California, approximately one hour before the lunar eclipse.

A sea lion peers through an opening in a school of black striped salema sea bream off the Galapagos IslandsPicture: DAVID FLEETHAM/BARCROFT

Elephants spray foreign tourists as they take part in water battles ahead of the Songkran Festival for the Thai New Year....Picture: PORNCHAI KITTIWONGSAKUL/AFP

 

A bulb field in Lisse bursts into colour. Lisse in The Netherlands is in the heart of the bulb flowering business and exports the product in large quantities to over a hundred countries around the world.Picture: EPA/LEX VAN LIESHOUT

US mudslide: Death toll rises as search for victims continues in Washington state

Chancellor George Osborne will use his Budget to announce a new 12-sided £1 coin based on the old threepenny bit. The current coin, which has been in circulation for 30 years, is no longer suitable for use because it has become vulnerable to sophisticated counterfeiters.Picture: The Royal Mint

People gather near the carcass of a dead whale on a beach at the port of Sidi Bou Said, Tunisia. The whale died after it become tangled in a fisherman's net off the coast.

A hippopotamus swims in its pool at New Delhi ZooPicture: EPA/HARISH TYAGI

Storm clouds and dust hang in the sky above a woman as she walks at dusk along Mollymook Beach, south of Sydney, AustraliaPicture: REUTERS/David Gray

Replete, the python slithers off to digest its dinnerPicture: MARVIN MULLER/BARCROFT

The Golden Gate bridge seen from Marin headlands, taken from a popular tourist spot just north of the bridge during rare days of low rolling fog (iPhone 4). Photograph: vbogak/GuardianWitness

The Northern lights were visible as far south as East Anglia. Here is a beautiful scene from Cley-next-the-Sea, Norfolk.Picture: DEMOTIX

The world's tallest building the Burj Khalifa skyscraper in Dubai is struck by lightning during a storm

Heard the one about the trout and the sardine? A seal appears to roar with laughter, then realises the punchline is a bit fishy as it relaxes on a beach in Heligoland, an island off the coast of GermanyPicture: GUSTAV KIBURG/CATERS

A cheeky red-billed oxpecker whispers into the ear of an impala. Balancing on the upright neck of the impala, the oxpecker even manages to fit its whole head inside the mammal's ear.Picture: Nobby Clarke/Solent News

A First Great Western train makes its way across the flooded Somerset LevelsPicture: JAMES DADZITIS/SWNS

People stroll along London's South Bank as a rainbow appears over the City of LondonPicture: NICK ANSELL/PA

Indonesian performers dressed as mermaids wearing traditional Chinese cheongsam dress and a lion perform underwater in a special program celebrating the Lunar New YearPicture: ROMEO GACAD/AFP/Getty Images

Rajan the elephant takes a dip in the sea off the Andaman Islands, in the Indian Ocean. Photographer Mike Korostelev said taking the shots below water during the 40 minute morning dip fulfilled a childhood dream.Picture: Mike Korostelev/Solent News

Tourists take a picture in front of a giant dragon lantern during a lantern festival in Shenyang, China. According to the Chinese lunar calendar, the Chinese New Year, which welcomes the year of the horse, falls on January 31.Picture: REUTERS

Catch of the day: this little Belted Kingfisher struck gold after landing a whopper of a goldfish at a small lake near Romeo, Michigan, US

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2545868/The-little-birdie-big-appetite-Kingfisher-catches-huge-goldfish-gobbles-one-gulp.html#ixzz2rUjutwMB
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Two visitors to the National Mall ski through an evening snowfall in Washington, DC, USA

Picture: EPA/JIM LO SCALZO

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A fully-grown male polar bear dozes, stretches, and rolls on his back after catching a seal in Svalbard, NorwayPicture: Jane Dagnall/Solent News