There is/was a heronary in the trees on the towpath side just the other side of the aqueduct for which the marina is named. There used to be a number of nests but there are less each year. They are not that easy to see as the birds nest high and at the back relative to the waterway.
--- On Thu, 30/4/09, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote: From: [email protected] <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [canals-list] Re: Uncle Mort heads North To: [email protected] Date: Thursday, 30 April, 2009, 3:00 PM On this subject of heron, I have never seen so many as there are on the GU cruising south into London. There are so many of them we have virtually ceased to notice them. There are heron vying for each other for attention at locks, heron lining the towpath with the frequency of fishermen, heron queued up along the roof ridges of lock cottages. Still we take no notice of them. These formerly discreet avians have now taken to doing song and dance acts as we pass to attract our attention. Steve Sent using BlackBerry® from Orange -----Original Message----- From: David Cragg <[email protected]> Date: Thu, 30 Apr 2009 13:19:10 To: <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [canals-list] Re: Uncle Mort heads North 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] ------------------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Links ------------------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Links [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
