Taking a walk along part of the city's riverside walk recently I finished up at Quayside hoping to see the kingfisher who regularly visits this stretch of the river. The kingfisher I love, but when I reached Fye Bridge and looked across to the shallow part I spotted the bird I hate, the dreaded cormorant.

Within seconds he dived under and came up with a small perch of around three or four ounces in his beak which after a few shakes of his head went down the hatch.

Within minutes he had dived again and came up with a small roach that went the same way. In 15 minutes, he caught another three fish before a boat frightened him off The cormorant is protected but the damage they do to the fish population is horrific.

Unless cormorants are culled to a sensible number and otters restricted to live in controlled areas, the fish population on rivers will decline to a near extinction level.