Quite near where you are heading we passed one with a fish that must have weighed near as much as the heron. The bird was trying to throw it around in its beak to swallow head first, as they do, but the fish was so heavy the bird was nearly falling in the canal head first if it moved the fish towards the pointed end of it's beak and spoiled the balance of fish and bird. But it was still trying the last we saw - the photo is somewhat blurred of this amazing fish/heron combination. They catch some big ones on the flashes above Middlewich - mostly by diving from the bank (up to 5' down!) as when they are in the water they tend to move the legs just enough for the fish to get away as they pounce.
--- On Wed, 29/4/09, Brian on Harnser <[email protected]> wrote: From: Brian on Harnser <[email protected]> Subject: [canals-list] Re: Uncle Mort heads North To: [email protected] Date: Wednesday, 29 April, 2009, 10:26 PM [email protected] wrote : > The usual population of grey herons went about their business, but what > ?is? their business ? I have never seen one with a fish. They are waders > and they can ?stab? their prey. So why do they park themselves on the bank > from which position they could never reach the water, let alone target a > meal ? But they can. I have watched them stand on the bank and thrust there beaks forward into the cut to catch a fish. I have also seen them dive into the canal and take fish. What I can't work out is how they see them in the murky water. ------------------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Links [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
