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10 July 2003
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Science
THE LIVING WORLD
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PROGRAMME INFO
Sunday 06:35-07:00
The Living World is a gentle weekend natural history programme, presented by Lionel Kelleway, which aims to broadcast the best, most intimate encounters with British wildlife.
nhuradio@bbc.co.uk
LISTEN AGAINListen 25min
Listen to 30 March
PRESENTER
LIONEL KELLEWAY
Lionel Kelleway
PROGRAMME DETAILS
Sunday 30 March 2003
Heron

Herons

For some people, the main experience they have of herons is when these large predators come to raid goldfish from their garden pond. But in this week's Living World, Lionel Kelleway has been given permission to enter the largest heronry in the country, at the Northward Hill RSPB reserve in Kent.

It's 75 years since the heron became the subject of the longest-running wildlife survey in the world and, to mark the occasion, heron counts this year will be more detailed and extensive. Owen Sweeney is co-ordinating the British Trust for Ornithology census in Kent and he's a big fan of the birds.

In some parts of the country grey herons are affectionately called 'Frank', because of the 'fraaaank' noise they make. Amid the noise of the heronry, Lionel finds out more about these birds at the top of the food chain.

At Northward Hill there are more than 150 pairs of herons, which share the woods with more than 200 pairs of noisy rooks. The birds tolerate each other, but rooks have been known to predate heron eggs and chicks, and the herons don’t want to leave their nests unprotected for any length of time.

It’s the start of the breeding season, and the herons at Northward Hill are busy readying their nests. The giant birds, with a wing span of up to six feet, constantly swoop backwards and forwards carrying large twigs to line their treetop homes. It’s usually the males who gather (or more often than not steal) the twigs, so the female can arrange the nest the way she wants it. When one partner returns to the nest after a period away, the two herons greet each other with a special display.

The grey heron has the scientific name Ardea cinerea which means ash-coloured. During the breeding period the birds change colour, with their legs going from brown to orange and their plumage turning iridescent.

They are unmistakable birds, and are a familiar sight. The RSPB estimates there are 13 thousand breeding pairs in the UK. Their success is partly down to warmer weather in the past few decades, and protection by law. In the Middle Ages herons were hunted for food, and later on they were killed because they were a threat to the fishing industry. Now herons are fully protected.

In this final programme in the current series of Living World Lionel and Owen creep into the heronry to get a closer look, and see the herons go about their daily lives.

Living World returns in June.
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