I am pleased to say that two herons seem to have started to visit a local pond that is on farmers land behind our house. Yesterday I saw two fly over the garden, the first I have seen in a long time. And today while walking I spotted one circling above the pond in question.
I love seeing herons. Even though they are a pain when it comes to keeping fish in ponds, they are majestic birds and look great.
There is a big lake about two miles from our house so in the past I have seen the occasional heron, but I'm glad that we should be seeing a lot more of them now!
I love seeing Grey Herons. We have quite a large Heronry close to us in a country park which itself borders the local reserve and I can sit for hours and watch them down at the reserve.
I find it very relaxing to watch them.
Now I seem to see them everywhere. Where we stay in the Lakes a solitary Heron always comes down to perch on a rock in the River Rothay at the bottom of the garden early in the morning. In Devon on the Dart early in the morning at the beginning of this week a solitary Grey Heron came down to stand not far from me by the Elizabethan wier. On the local reserve the one Grey Heron always comes down onto the island in Forge Mill Lake and there was also a jouvenile Grey Heron there on the last few visits as well. In Lichfield my home town, Minster Pool infront of the cathedral is normally graced with a solitary Grey Heron. Icehouse Pool in the country park is home to about 18 Grey Heron nests.
So I have decided that the Grey Heron is my mascot!
That's a lot of grey herons! You're both lucky to have herons regularly visiting places so close to you. I very occasionally have seen one or two fly over in the rough direction of a nearby pond, and I always enjoy watching them.
Yes, I am lucky with the amount of Grey Herons around and I must admit I have become quite attached to them.
There are a couple of pics I have taken at the local reserve on my site:
Sanwell Valley Reserve Tour
and I recently did a little audio about the Grey Heron on the reserve:
In Search of Heron
I occassionally see one by our house, always in the morning. SOmetimes the seagulls try and scare it off. One day we found a huge goldfish dead on our patio (we don't have fish as it is a wildlife pond). The only way I could account for this was the heron dropping it.
It is fantastic seeing them in the city!
I had a very entertaining view of a grey heron at Leighton Moss some time ago. It had caught an eel and was trying to get it onto its beak so that it could swallow it, the problem was that as the heron positioned the eel ready to take it down, the eel would wrap itself about the herons beak or neck. This went on for probably 15 minutes before the heron finally managed to bash the eel hard enough on the ground to stun it and then swallowed it
We have a few herons in the river valley but we only ever see one at a time flying over. I have had one in the garden once sat on the fence eyeing up the koi. My mum's house was also on the flight path & it used to land on her patio watching her fish. They are lovely birds & have increased a lot around here because of better conservation areas.
I had a very entertaining view of a grey heron at Leighton Moss some time ago. It had caught an eel and was trying to get it onto its beak so that it could swallow it, the problem was that as the heron positioned the eel ready to take it down, the eel would wrap itself about the herons beak or neck. This went on for probably 15 minutes before the heron finally managed to bash the eel hard enough on the ground to stun it and then swallowed it
That must have been fascinating to watch! If a bit gruesome.
Glad to hear that everyone seems to be seeing a lot of Grey Herons, they are brilliant birds and it's nice to hear they seem to be doing so well all around the country.
The West Midlands Bird Club book - 'New Birds of the West Midlands' states that back in 2003 around 700 Heron nests were recorded in the Midlands with around 80% of those in my own home county of Staffordshire.
At the moment I am waiting for Comorant to come back to the local reserve - I've missed those over the last few months.