Heron

welshgold · #1 (**permalink**) 27-02-2010, 07:34 PM

My fav bird in flight which I see quite often at our local country park

Ukwildlifeo · #2 (**permalink**) 27-02-2010, 07:37 PM

One of my fav birds too.

Nice pic

aeshna5 · #3 (**permalink**) 27-02-2010, 07:41 PM

Always good to see. Quite a few on nests in London at the moment.

Tracey.A · #4 (**permalink**) 27-02-2010, 07:47 PM

We have a few Herons at our local reserve. They are very impressive in flight and on the ground. They keep so still for ages and then wham they just grab something

A nice photo by the way

Tracey

Dogghound · #5 (**permalink**) 28-02-2010, 10:36 AM

Looks like a first winter bird too. The ones here have been very scarce since all of the snow, although I heard that some are starting to nest in the local colony.

Nice photo.

sbeau66 · #6 (**permalink**) 28-02-2010, 11:10 AM

I don,t like them because of what they do to my fish!

aeshna5 · #7 (**permalink**) 28-02-2010, 12:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sbeau66

I don,t like them because of what they do to my fish!

It's your responsibility to protect your fish. Herons are a natural predator of fish + are doing what they have to, to survive.

Accept it's upsetting if you lose your pets, but it's possible to prevent fish losses over small/medium sized ponds.

sbeau66 · #8 (**permalink**) 28-02-2010, 12:52 PM

my pond is too large to net so it has so many deterrents like flags and windmills on it , so it looks like a xmas tree, it spoils the natural effect, one time the heron was sleeping at the side of the pond at night, its not a sight i look forward to, i wouldn't mind if it took the fish to eat but it just fishes the out and stabs them, or leaves em on the grass to die, thats not fair on the fish, its welcome to take some for food but it took out a really pregnant one last week and it died on the grass, if it had benn allowed to spawn the fish would have provided babies and therefore more smaller fish for the heron, so i think they must be stupid too!

rossy · #9 (**permalink**) 28-02-2010, 01:41 PM

went down to queens park yesterday as the rspb have got scopes on till tomorrow on the heronry, if anyones intrested its in heywood, greater manchester, rossy,

Claire Fifi · #10 (**permalink**) 28-02-2010, 02:32 PM

I think that losing a few fish is a small price to pay for having Herons in the garden (unless they are Koi Carp!).

I get them over my garden all the time and they have taken fish from my pond but I have stopped stocking it now - I leave it for the frogs and newts. Also, less fish means more invertebrates.

One of the funniest sights I saw was my cat trying to stalk the Heron! Of course, the Heron was long gone before the cat got anywhere near, but I am sure that he could have inflicted a nasty stab, plus the fact that the bird was at least twice the size of the cat,