The week in wildlife

The abseiling wildlife ranger Paul Pickett dropped in to Kielder forest, Northumberland, to ring two 25-day-old rare peregrine falcon chicks; until recently one of Britain's most persecuted bird species Photograph: Owen Humphries/PA

Mayflies (Palingenia longicauda) hover over the river Tisza in Szeged, Hungary. Mayflies are water insects. Their larvae come out of the eggs which spend three years on the riverbed then rise to the surface. Every year from late spring to early summer a natural spectacle called "Tisza blooming" happens where the insects rise in huge clouds, take flight, and after mating females lay eggs on the river's surface. Then both sexes perish in just a few hours Photograph: Gyoergy Nemeth/EPA

Four-day old common armadillos (Dasypus novemcinctus) in Managua, Nicaragua. Four baby armadillos were rescued by the Nicaraguan environmentalist Kamilo Lara. Armadillos are small mammals known for having a leathery armour shell, and are listed as an endangered species Photograph: MARIO LOPEZ/EPA

Beekeepers at Kew Gardens reintroduce 20,000 honeybees into two new hives. Part of a campaign to increase bee-friendly habitats in the UK, it is hoped the bees will increase the number of pollinating insects at the park Photograph: Katie Collins/PA

A brown bear cub on the road in the outskirts of Sinaia, north of Bucharest. Local authorities and members of the Forestry Institute started an operation to capture and relocate about 25 bears after many started to roam in the town in search for food. With half of Europe's brown bears - roughly 6,000 - living in the Carpathian mountains, environmentalists and authorities are struggling to keep the wild animals and residents in mountain towns safe from each other Photograph: Radu Sigheti/Reuters

A ladybird in a field of rye in Poland Photograph: Kacper Pempel/Reuters

A lion and lioness lie well disguised in the tall grass at the Pilanesberg national park near Rustenburg, South Africa Photograph: Carl Fourie/EPA

A female spider (left) pulls webbing to attract a mate (right) as she emerges from her retreat to lure the male towards the cocoon in Egypt. Once the male is close enough, the female pulls him into the retreat where the mating process takes place Photograph: Mike Nelson/EPA

An African stork and a capybara at Schonbrunn zoo in Vienna. The zoo is running an ecological art project called Trouble in Paradise, which places symbols of environmental destruction such as abandoned cars and oil pumps inside the animals' enclosures in a bid to raise awareness of ecological issues Photograph: Joe Klamar/AFP

Juvenile Nile crocodiles bask in the sun at a crocodile farm in Bloemfontein, South Africa Photograph: Nic Bothma/EPA

An egret feeds wades in a rice field near the demilitarised zone separating North Korea and South Korea Photograph: Lee Jae-won/Reuters

An African darter - sometimes called the snakebird - stands on a rock in the middle of a small dam at the Pilanesberg national park near Rustenburg, South Africa Photograph: Halden Krog/EPA

Horses fight during the Rapa das Bestas event in Mougas, Spain. Throughout the summer, hundreds of wild horses are rounded up, trimmed and groomed in different villages in Galicia Photograph: Miguel Vidal/Reuters

A red squirrel jumps from a branch in Kielder forest in Northumberland where the red squirrel has made a comeback Photograph: Owen Humphreys/PA

This photograph shows plastic found in the stomach from the carcass of a laysan albatross fledgling. Collected and arranged by Dr Cynthia Vanderlip, Division of Forestry and Wildlife, Hawaii. Photograph: Rebecca Hosking/Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society

The large blue butterfly, which has been reintroduced to the UK. After a quarter of a century, conservationists are celebrating the recovery of one of the world's most threatened species. The large blue is one of only three UK butterflies on course to meet international targets to halt declines in wildlife Photograph: David Simcox/National Trust/PA