I spent a happy half hour today watching a beautiful grey heron, for such a large bird he was so delicate in his movements. He was between the field edge and the flood water, he crept stealthily back and forth, lifting each foot in turn and bringing it slowly forward before carefully placing it in position. At times he craned forward, his neck stretched out over the water; occasionally he gently dipped into the water, shaking the drops from himself afterwards. At other times he turned his attention to the mud at the water's edge and thrust his long orange beak deep. Was he looking for worms or beetles I wondered? There were times when he stood stock still as if listening, his neck stretched as far as possible, his bill pointed upwards. His height at this point would have been about 90cm. I know herons eat fish and frogs but don't know what else. I shall have to look it up...
I did! It also eats insects, water voles and sometimes other water birds, usually young ones. I even heard tell once of one eating a young rabbit, this is only hearsay though so I don't know whether or not this is true.
