Diary: April 2003

Yesterday evening I saw a heron flying over the garden and tonight the whole family saw it at close quarters when it landed close to the pond. It was only 7.45 p.m. and still very light outside. The bird quickly spotted our resident plastic heron and eyed it very suspiciously: taking a few paces towards it. The lack of a response seems to unnerved it and it flew away.

I put three new small goldfish into the pond on Saturday and one of them happily, and very visibly, spends quite a lot of time near the surface (feeding on daphnia I think). The heron may well have been tempted down after spying it. Sure enough, when I went to the pond after the bird had left, the fish was indeed very visible.