Heron at Ruskin Mill, Horsley

We have had a lazy Sunday and in order to get some fresh air I suggested to Helena that we go for a drive and then a walk.  Neither of us had much energy and H. was happy for me to just wander and see where we ended up.  After driving up onto Minchinhampton common I headed down the little back lanes to Amberley, Theescombe, Box and then down the steep zig-zag road to Nailsworth.  I suddenly thought of going up the Horsley valley to visit the ponds at Ruskin Mill, a Rudolph Steiner outdoor education college.  The mill is the centre of the activities there but they seem to own much of the valley and have taken over the old fish ponds and brought them back into use.

We parked half way up the valley and set off on a short circular walk past the ponds and through the woodlands where they run down the steep hillsides above the stream, the water channels and the fish ponds.  Our cameras were out and I took some pictures of the newly constructed wooden roundhouse which shelters the woodcraft activities of the college.

We spotted a heron in one of the ponds but as I changed my lens to a zoom it flew off and climbed steeply to gain height to go up the valley.  We carried on a bit further and then spotted another standing in the water of the pond and we both approached gingerly to avoid disturbing it.  I managed to walk along the path beside the pond taking a few pictures, before a young child walking with his mum scared it into fying across the pond to a more remote spot. 

I followed its flight to another spot on the far side of the pond and then caught it again when it flew back towards and past me,  before choosing a perch high up on the bare branch of a tree on the valley side.  I've chosen this picture from a sequence as it shows the huge span of its wings and the pretty location of the ponds

I have added the rest of the heron pictures to this Flickr gallery, which I hope you will have a look at to see it in close up as well in flight.