Perfect angle... amazing

HERE’S a new take on fly fishing...a cormorant hooks up with a human pal to help make his catch of the day.

The aquatic birds perch on a bamboo raft before swooping into the water to grasp hold of their prey.

With thick, curved bills, cormorants are perfect for seizing bigger fish and are happy to help fishermen on the Li River in Guilin, southern China, in return for tasty rewards.

These stunning images showing the ancient art of cormorant fishing were captured by photographer Julia Wimmerlin.

She placed her camera in a waterproof case and dipped it into the water to capture a cormorant plunging into the river as the fisherman looks on.

To catch smaller fish close to the river’s surface, fishermen simply fling large nets into the water.

Julia, 42, from Kiev, Ukraine, who now lives in

Hong Kong, said: “Seeing this whole process and the beautiful setting where it takes place just takes your breath away. It was so beautiful, it felt surreal.”

Skills

Cormorant fishing, a practice dating back to the 10th century, is now rarely carried out, apart from to entertain tourists.

Fishermen must have a close bond with the cormorants and when the

JUMPY homebuyers are being put off a chapel conversion – because of 50 tombstones in the garden.

Desperate estate agents have now slashed the asking price by a third.

The conversion has been on the market for 18 months.

Estate agent Emmerson Dutton said: “It’s such a nice house, they have done an amazing job on it.

“We have dropped the price on a number of occasions. But the graves birds grasp hold of a fish, they pull them back to the boat in order for them to release their prey.

Julia said: “The skills of training the cormorants are passed from generation to generation, but in modern China nobody uses cormorants any more, so the skills will be lost with the last remaining fishermen.

“Most fisherman who still know how to use the birds are in their 80s and the youngest are in their 60s.” are the problem, rightly or wrongly.” The newly-renovated, three-bedroom property with an open-plan kitchen has never been lived in.

But Mr Dutton, a partner at agents Bedfords, said many prospective buyers would not discuss the house because of the graves.

Any owner would not remove the tombstones be in able the

Underwater camera shows cormorant returning with a fish in its beak... catch, to the delight of the fisherman ...to surface in triumph with its

on fisherman’s raft Ready to swoop...a bird perches