A Mute Swan and a Cormorant were uneasily sharing the space over the wire basket near the bridge. The swan refused to be budged by the lunging and splashing of its neighbour, but it was clearly annoyed.

Eventually the Cormorant swam off, and the swan went back to chewing algae off the wire mesh. You would not think that this enormous bird could subsist on a diet of algae and grass (and, in the park, the pappy white sliced bread that visitors give them).

The four Jackdaws near the Speke obelisk are now waiting for people to come and give them bits of biscuit. When not swooping down to the ground they were flying rapidly from tree to tree, never pausing for more than a couple of seconds.

The male Tawny Owl was in his usual place. Woken up by some passing dog walkers, he gave me an intense stare before settling back to sleep.

There were two Carrion Crows near the small boathouses, so I gave them a couple of peanuts. Immediately a Lesser Black-Backed Gull barged in and grabbed one of them.

Having got the peanut, it didn't know what to do with it -- unlike the gulls I photographed a few days ago, which had realised that they could crush the shell with their beak. A gull is no good at holding a nut in place with its feet so it can peck it open, since its feet are smaller and weaker than the strong grasping feet of crows. Eventually it dropped the nut, which was reclaimed by the other crow.

A Moorhen struck a balletic pose on a post near the bridge.

Its modest brown feathers are quite shiny when the sun catches them at the right angle.