The sun was shining, the traffic rumbled distantly over Kew Bridge and only the screech of ring necked parakeets disturbed the squeaky-wheel call of great tits. I was standing on the banks of the Thames near Kew Gardens and had to strain to see the cluster of heron's nests in the trees on the opposite bank.
These giant birds are as big as it (avian life) gets in the UK. In flight they are serene and impressive. In landing they are a catastrophe. You can see them for yourself, up close at our Regent's Park Date with Nature. It's the breeding season so they're all clumped together with ungainly chicks learning how to fly and balance on their ridiculously long and thin legs.
My reason for visiting Kew was for BBC London news story where anglers are worried that increasing heron and cormorant numbers are behind the fall in fish they've been able to hook. Studies by the RSPB, Anglers groups and the Government have all failed to make this link but if there is a problem, licenses to cull cormorants can be obtained. Obviously, I'd urge people to look for alternatives to killing wildlife.
I welcome the west London anglers concern. In fact, I want to hug them. I love the Thames as much as them and I'd urge them to step-up their calls for action and for them to march alongside us in calling for more to be done to clean-up our waterways and to protect them from pollution and over-abstraction.
Working with anglers elsewhere we've increased fish populations by some 60%. This is by increasing sheltered areas to protect small fish from a range of predators. These sanctuaries are undisturbed areas where other river dwellers can thrive, creating shelter and food for fish and eels. It's part of the natural cycle that is all too often disrupted by human actions. Nature - ie birds and fish - have lived alongside each other for millennia. We must learn to do the same with nature.