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Had I but World enough and time… I am very fond of the Herons I see down by the Rive Brue, they are truly spectacular birds but, if you want to get good pictures of them, you really do need to be as patient as them and sit and wait. However right now, I have to restrict my morning ride to no more than one hour so I’m grateful for what I can get, hit and miss as that maybe.

I sense the season starting to turn, Autumn my most favourite one will arrive a couple of weeks earlier than usual. I notice this because I find my self winding up the “film” sensitivity from my normally preferred 80-100 ASA to 200 and 400, it is getting darker in the mornings.

The Old Grey Heron

I haven’t seen the big fella for some weeks now but then with quite a number of Rivers, Ponds and Lakes to choose from locally, he may have switched to a different fishing routine because he has quite distinct preferences – high tides and grey skies on the Brue for sure. However and with increasing frequency, there are two young Herons fishing the Brue over the past month. They are young because the feathers on the tops of their heads which in a fully grown adult form the distinctive head/neck plume, are a bit like top knots as they grow out.

However, one of the youngsters is quite bold and seems to tolerate me providing I keep a “respectful distance” and do not move suddenly. He only takes to flight if other people approach and even then if he hasn’t finished will merely take another vantage point until they pass.

This Morning I came across him and these are 3 of the pictures from the set to share. In the third one, wrapped around his beak is a small Eel he has just caught though difficult to see at this size. His wings are spread because he has just landed on the River bank having fished the Eel out of a Crab Pond, he has removed it from its habitat, dispatches it and then swallows it whole.

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