A large seabird was spotted dining with the ducks and swans at Carshalton Ponds this week.

The cormorant was seen with its wings held out to dry by retired Ron Jeffries, 69, of Carshalton.

He said: “I’ve seen it there for the past two weeks. It’s unusual as you don’t always see them this far inland.

“I watched it diving and swimming under water for food, then coming on land and holding its wings out for the sun to dry them, it’s great to see.”

A spokesman for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, said the cormorant, which comes from the bird family phalacrocoracidae, occurs regularly in the UK.

He said: “Regarded by some as sinister and greedy, cormorants are supreme fishers, which can bring them into conflict with anglers, so they have been persecuted in the past.

“They are normally found around the UK coastline, but are increasingly being seen inland.”

The phalacrocoracidae family includes some 40 species of cormorants and shags. They range in size from as little as 45cm and 340g, to 100cm and 5kg.

The recently extinct spectacled cormorant was larger still, at an average size of 6.3kg.