COOMBE ABBEY COUNTRY PARK

Heron Breeding site: Click image for more

Coventry was blessed with lovely sunshine and it was just too nice to be in the house. We went to Coombe Abbey Country Park and it seems half of Coventry was there. Can't blame them.

The Park offers 450 acres of woodland, lakes, beautiful gardens and open grassland. A retreat from the hustle and bustle of city life.

We, as birdwatchers, were more interested in the heron nesting island. We had to pass through hoards of families, picnickers, cyclists, dogs and their mess, and barbecue smoke. Thankfully, not many people on the same route as ours.

It was a lakeside stroll through lovely woodland. The Park is Warwickshire largest heronry, with over 60 breeding pairs. The herons are seasonal birds. The colony is overlooked by a wooden hide where the herons could be seen nesting. The nests looks like rough platforms of sticks built on the treetops. I'd never seen so many herons before. They were flying in and out. It looks like a runaway.

3 Heron Chicks on their nest

Herons belong to the heron family, Ardeidae. They nest and roost in flocks, but they hunt alone. They wade silently in the shallow waters. As soon as it sees a target, the heron makes a lightning strike and catches its prey, frogs fish and even rats, with its spearlike bill.

From the hide, we also saw lots of geese, swans, ducks, tits, sparrows, robins, a female pheasant and a tree creeper. We intend to come again, in the early morning when the sun is not so high so so that we can take better photographs, as the island was directly between the sun and the hide.

Get well soon JCK, nice knowing you, Kuyan

and its good to talk to you again, CYH.