Bird watch and free seeds
This large ungainly bird is a master angler, says Ruth
IT’S the time of year when those of us with garden ponds containing fish start to get a bit twitchy.
Our fish become sluggish and slow as temperatures drop, and this makes them vulnerable to the attentions of that most masterful of fisherman, the grey heron (Ardea cinerea).
Standing at almost 3ft (1m) tall, these aristocratic birds are a common sight along riverbanks and in water meadows where they wait patiently and motionless for their prey to swim past. With their grey and white plumage and slow, stalking gait, they look like a cross between some strange prehistoric creature and a haughty Victorian bishop about to admonish his congregation.
Their normal diet consists of frogs and fish, though they will also eat small rodents and even ducklings. But as winter draws on and river fish sink down and take to lurking in the reeds, it is easier for herons to grab a takeaway from a garden pond, spearing their victims with a long and lethally sharp beak.
Grey herons nest in colonies, often with other species of birds. They build large, platform-like habitations at the top of tall trees and lay up to 12 eggs that are either white or pale blue. Both parents incubate the eggs and the downy youngsters fledge around 50 days after hatching.
Medieval folklore has it that the fat of a heron killed during full moonlight was a cure for rheumatism.
Protect pond fish from herons by laying metal mesh over the water or keeping a lifesize plastic heron standing by the side of the pond as a ‘territorial’ deterrent.
Ruth Hayes