Watching a heron on the banks of the River Frome

The sun shone this morning but by the time I was ready to go shopping clouds were beginning to take over the sky. I thought I’d go for a walk along the river on my way to the supermarket, with the possibility of seeing whether the local kingfishers were present. I parked near the railway on Butterow Hill and walked along the footpath beside the railway down to where the lines traversed the river and canal using Capel’s Mill Viaduct.

It is a favoured haunt of mine from years gone by as I know where the kingfishers nested as well as the nests of a couple of pairs of the rather delightful white-throated dippers. In the last few years the path following the bank of the River Frome down towards the town centre have been ‘developed’ into a nature reserve called Fromebanks. My experience has been that the alterations to the habitats have reduced the wildlife and increased the footfall of walkers and dog walkers, encouraged by the publicity. All in all a challenge for wildlife.

When I arrived a young woman was siting on the ruins of the old mill race, formerly part of Capel’s Mill which lie directly below the viaduct. I didn’t like to disturb her so walked around the footbridge over the river, before walking along the footpath on the north side of Fromebanks. It is still a lovely area, even if less wild than before. I didn’t see any birds at all for some while, until I stopped to admire the winding river. Then I saw a large bird fly onto the bank about a hundred yards downstream. I walked slowly towards where I thought it had landed and then suddenly saw the head of a heron peeking out of the reeds.

I slowly approached it and when I got quite close it noticed me but seemed to accept my presence. Eventually it flew over the river and then walked along the steeply wooded bank side for about a hundred yards back towards the viaduct. I just stood right opposite to the heron on the opposite bank.  Soon after it flew upstream and returned to the bank that I was standing on, so I walked back up the footpath back as I’d intended while still managing to observe it from quite close by. Altogether we eyed each other for about twenty minutes whilst I took pictures. Eventually it flew back across to the south bank before then flying low over the water down the river to where I’d seen it in the first instance.

I returned to the mill race and then met the young woman who was coming towards me as she wanted to see the heron. We then chatted for a few minutes and she told me she had seen both kingfishers and dippers recently but not today, so I was encouraged by that news.

I’ve blipped the heron on one of its flights across the river  as well as a couple of ‘extras’ including its last flight back downstream.