Herons at Muncaster

Thanks Woodpecker

Yes, it is an interesting story. I can remember visiting Muncaster years ago, I think in the 1960's and there was a small zoo, I remember feeling sorry for some small bears in a pit.  [ I have confirmed that I am not imagining this :-) ]  Luckily, we are always improving how we interact with and conserve wildlife and the zoo is no more. Now they have ponds, meadows and other wildlife areas, much better.

Unknown said:

GrahamC : I am so pleased you liked the photos and are a fan of herons. You really must put some of your photos on here, I bet they are amazing. I am sure you would love the spectacle of 38+  Herons feeding, as they are usually such solitary birds.

Yes, love your photos and stories! I sometimes see a lot of GHs down in Barnes WWT but not nearly as many as that. And whilst visiting Rye Meads this year I saw a pair flying together. Never seen that.

Here are a few of my piccies:

Grey Heron

Lave Heron

Litte Blue Heron


Striated Heron

Hope you like them!

Best wishes, Graham

My goodness Graham, I'd no idea there were so many different sorts of heron. What brill photos. That  Blue Heron is fabulous.

I spotted one in the Isle of Wight, fishing in the sea, which surprised me. I've never seen that before.

Great set of pics Jef!! I saw this on one of the 'Nature's calendar' programs!! Must be a real sight and sound with so many herons!

Lovely pics Sparrow & Graham too!

Fabulous photos Graham. Like Sparrow, I had no idea of the different types. I love the grey heron in its natural habitat, well it  looks more natural to me than in a field! Apart from at Muncaster, I have only seen solitary herons.

I googled the Lave heron, does it only live on the Galapagos Islands, I only scanned the information? The blue heron is a gorgeous colour and the Striated heron has really unusual markings.

Where did you take the photos? Were they all in one particular area? Thank you for posting them, I do like them very much.

Thank you MarJus, yes it is a 'real sight and sound' as you say, especially when the buzzards come along to pinch the food.

I must have missed the Nature's Calendar programmes, when and what channel were they on and, more importantly, are they still being shown? :-)

It was on BBC2 a few weeks back! A repeated series and I missed most of them! Only made aware by the Hare Preservation Trust of which I'm a member as hares were featured one day! I recorded it as it was on in the day time and recorded the remainder of the series as I enjoyed it so much!

Can't find any info on whether it's on now or not (should look at the TV program in more detail!!) but here's a link to the BBC website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/naturescalendar/

Thanks Jef, I shot the Lava and the Striated Herons in the Galapagos and the Little Blue in Tobago.

A couple of good photos but I also have dozens of poor ones from these places :(
Great places to visit!

Best Wishes, Graham

Sparrow: wonderful photo as usual. I would imagine it is very unusual to see herons at the seaside? However, the more I learn about birds and wildlife, the more I realise my ignorance about them is immense.

MarJus: Thank you very much for the link, I will investigate. Hopefully there will be DVDs available!