fishydreams

I came across an interesting piece of drama at the river on Saturday. It involved a night heron and some fish.

The heron was standing in water which was only a couple of inches deep, a shallow sill between one sprawling turbulent pool and another. Any fish moving upstream from one pool to the other needed to swim across this shallow ridge in water that barely covered its back and the chosen route was just where the heron was standing. When the bird became aware of my presence it took a few steps further away but resisted the urge to take flight. Presumably the heron, in the moments before I disturbed it, had been waiting for a fish of the right size to run the gauntlet before seizing it.

Night herons are generally active near dark and they stand in shallow water in typical heron-style feeding on small fish and large insects. It is a little unusual to see these secretive birds active in the mid afternoon. This is around the time of year when they reproduce and so they may need to feed for longer.

I tried taking photos of the bird and noticed just in the foreground the flurry of water produced by fish surging upstream. Somewhat optimistically I tried to see if I could get a shot of both the fish and the bird together and, as luck would have it, I just about managed to do it.

The Night Heron (Nyctocorax nictocorax). At the top of the picture is a Little Ringed Plover (Charadrius dubius)

In the foreground you can see a gypsy barbel powering its way upstream over the sill.