Grey Heron in bright sunshine

This Heron, as you know if you are a regular reader, has been fascinating me for a few days now. I am enjoying him and making the most of the photo opportunities that he is giving me. We have unusually warm weather for the time of year and the sky was blue and cloudless just after sunrise, but the mist took an hour or so to clear. I watched him for an entire hour, waiting for him to make his move which he eventually did. I was waiting for him to fly in the really good light because I just knew that when he did, it was going to be a good photo and so it proved. Here he is just prior to flying after spending the whole hour preening himself.




Then later on after a walk around the marsh and on the way back up the canal, he was again back on the canal and hunting. He was quickly successful and emerged with, this time, an eel. He immediately flew on to the field nearby to eat it. This was totally different than his behaviour with the Jack Pike that I have seen him with before. My assumption is that he is intelligent enough o know that if he dropped it on the grass, then he could easily deal with it but of course, over water he would probably lose his hard earned meal.
As I stood, with the sun behind me, a group of Mute Swans circled the marsh in front of me. The photo shows, not only how beautiful they really are but also what an unusually great day it was.