The Richmond Herons. 141 



The Richmond Herons. 



Reprinted from the " T'nncs " of April Hth, igig, with our thanks to Editor 

 and Author — cutting per Ke7\ G. H. Raynor, M.A. 



THEIR 110M1-: AXU HABITS. 



" Tlic first young Herons of tlie season are just being hatched in 

 Riclimond Park. It can never fail to be a source of wonderment and 

 joy that such conspicuous and usually retiring birds can year by year 

 nest and rear their young successfully in such a public place. The 

 presence there of kestrels, woodpeckers, cuckoos, and even jays and 

 nightjars is accepted with pleasure and surprise, but amazement is 

 unfeigned at a real heronry. Heronries are nowhere common, and arc 

 generally found in inaccessible places ; but here is one within seven miles 

 of St. Paul's Cathedral. Nor are the noises of London absent — the 

 metallic sounds of electric trains crossing the river bridges at Kew and 

 Barnes, and the roar of motor-omnibuses. 



" Herons, together with Ravens, are the earliest of British birds to 

 begin nesting operations : and more than a month ago, when the snow 

 was lying deep on the ground, and bitterly cold winds were sweeping 

 across the park, some six or eigiit pairs were adding to the already 

 ponderous masses of sticks which form liieir iiomes from b'ebruary to 

 July each year. " Sidmouth Plantation " is tiie official designation of 

 their preserve : it lies a few hundred yards within the Richmond gate, 

 and under the stress of war has been flanked by the wooden huts of the 

 South African Military Ho.spital. But the great birds seem to fear no 

 direct human interference ; perhaps they know that a peremptory notice 

 affixed to the gates of the wood declares that it is only ' open to the public 

 from May to October.' C)ne wonders if this is evidence of official 

 solicitude for the Herons' nurseries or for the peace of mind of the few 

 hen pheasants that may shortl\- be nesting in the undergrowth. Probably 

 the latter bird's welfare appeals more strongly to officialdom. 



" Of indirect interference, not to say open annoyance, the Herons 

 had their full share during the years of war. Batteries of anti-aircraft 

 guns, stationed close to ihem. fired on many occasions round after round 

 in the middle of the night. The glare of the searchlights must have 

 been disconcerting to young and old alike, and if no bombs fell on ihem 

 it was not the fault of the Gothas. which once laid their own eggs within 

 a mile of the heronry. But Herons are stolid British birds ; no devilries 

 of the enemy could move them, and despite the invasion of the air by 

 observation balloons — nine or ten at a time have been swung overhead ail 

 hours of daylight— they nave remained constant to their ancient haunts. 



"On a fine Saturday or Sunday afternoon in April thousands of 

 Londoners will walk and sit within a hundred paces of the nests, but it 

 is the exception to see any of them look up to where, at the tops of the 

 still leafless oaks, the male birds are silhouetted against the sky as they 

 stand croaking hoarse directions to their mates engaged in putting the 



