The natural world is full of and indeed relies upon vital symbiotic relationships to function efficiently.

In other words its a case of you scratch my back and I will scratch yours so that two separate and usually very different species can each benefit from the other in sometimes bizarre relationships.

Probably the most obvious case of interdependence belongs to flowers,crops and insects whereby bees benefit from a plentiful supply of nectar provided by the flowers in exchange for polination.In the oceans,cleaner fish cling to large hosts such as sharks and pick off bloodsucking mites while in Autumn,jays bury acorns to retrieve in winter but forget the location of some of them which germinate and perhaps create a mini woodland in a classic case of assisted seed dispersal.

In hot weather,large grazing anmals can be plagued by flies and the photograph shows a fallow buck in Bushy park happy to remain still while a jackdaw performs a welcome manicure.The buck's antlers were then 'in velvet' but with the rutting season now in full swing deer have shrugged off the soft covering of their antlers ready for sparring.Both Richmond and Bushy parks now resound to the far reaching echoes of bellowing,belching stags and the softer coughing burps of fallow bucks as they all strut around gathering up harems on which they expend much energy in protecting from rivals.To watch deer interacting in Autumn is a staggering spectacle,preferably from a respectable distance.