There is something magical and exciting about watching herons at this time of year; they will soon be trickling into the heronry to claim their nests for the new breeding season at the Wilden Marsh. The herons’ breeding season starts in February with egg-laying.
Whether standing alone in South Pool or gliding low over The Scrapes, these birds bring a touch of elegance to even the muddiest corners of the marsh. Tall and grey-backed, with long legs, a dagger-like yellow bill, and that unmistakable black eye-stripe trailing into a delicate plume, herons look as though they’ve stepped straight from a piece of ancient folklore. More often than not, you’ll find them frozen in perfect stillness at the water’s edge—waiting, watching, and ready to spear their next meal of fish, frog, or even the occasional mole.
Worcestershire is fortunate to host three thriving heronries: treetop villages where herons gather each spring to nest in noisy, bustling colonies. The oldest, near Grimley, has grown impressively over the decades, expanding from just 11 nests in 1981 to 28 occupied nests in 1997. The other two—at Upton Warren and Wilden Marsh Nature Reserve—bring an added touch of variety, as herons now share their airy neighbourhoods with egrets, which have become increasingly common visitors. There are around thirty heron nests at Wilden.
But the heron family’s presence in the county reaches far beyond the familiar grey heron. Worcestershire’s wetlands occasionally welcome rare and exciting guests: glossy ibis probing through soft mud, cattle egrets stalking alongside livestock, ghostly great white egrets drifting over reedbeds, the secretive bittern booming from deep cover, and spoonbills sweeping their strange spatulate bills through the shallows. These birds tend to appear during migration or winter months, turning up, unexpectedly, on the marshes
Together, herons and their relatives form one of Worcestershire’s many natural spectacles. I find herons rewarding subjects to photograph and video.
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