Granddad’s Camera
Grey heron, as it appears in the game

No.009 · Birds · Common

Grey heron

Ardea cinerea

A tall, still fisher on the water's edge, grey-backed with a black eye-stripe. It flies with slow beats, neck folded back in an S and long legs trailing.

When to look

All year, mostly at dawn, day and dusk.

Time of day

Best time
Dawn and dusk at the water's edge, all year; heronries busy from February.
Where in the game
Millbrook (canal, pond and park) and the Norfolk Broads (broad, river, fen, grazing marsh, reedbed and carr)
Size
Length about 94 cm
Wingspan
About 1.8 m
Weight
About 1.5 kg (BTO adult average)
Lifespan
Average about 5 years; the oldest ringed bird lived over 23 years (Wildlife Trusts, BTO)
Population
About 11,000 breeding pairs in the UK (BTO, 2013–17)
Status
Green (Birds of Conservation Concern 5, 2021)

Diet

Fish, frogs, small mammals and ducklings; wades or waits for hours and spears prey with a sudden strike.

Habitat

Rivers, canals, lakes and wet grassland; nests in tall trees.

Breeding

Nests in colonies (heronries) in treetops from February; usually 3–4 pale blue eggs; chicks fledge in about 7–8 weeks.

Field signs

  • Rasping 'frarnk' call in flight
  • White splashes of droppings on branches under a heronry
  • Still, hunched, grey figure on the canal edge

Did you know?

  • A heron can stand motionless at the water's edge for long spells, then strike faster than the eye can follow.
  • Grey herons are gently shy about people, yet an urban canal heron may learn to raid garden ponds for fish and frogs.
  • The record ringed heron lived nearly 24 years (BTO).

Moments worth waiting for

  • The strike all year, dawn, dusk and day
    A heron freezes at the edge, then lunges and comes up with a wriggling fish.
  • Eel on the bank May to September, day
    A heron wrestles a slippery eel and swallows it whole.

Photo tip

Wait beside the water in the dim light of dawn, staying low and still; a long lens from the towpath gets the strike. Shoot with a fast shutter as it lunges.

Be a good naturalist

Do not approach a heronry from February to June; herons abandon nests when disturbed. Never feed herons or drive one off a pond that another person owns.

The law

All wild birds, their nests and eggs are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981; it is an offence to kill, injure or take them or damage an active nest.

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