Slow day today. So after breaking the key in the lock and somehow, more luck than skill, getting it working again, we wandered into town. On the way in we passed the resident heron on the lookout for food in the swollen river. 

Boredom alert ……. Apparently;
Grey herons have a wing span of about 6ft.
The old English name for a heron was hragra; other names include harn, hernser and hernshaw. Heron comes from the French.
In medieval times the heron was a favourite quarry of falconers who valued its flying skills and ability to evade falcons.
Roast herons were also popular at medieval banquets: the young birds, called branchers, were thought to be the best to eat.
The fat of a heron killed at full moon was once believed to be a cure for rheumatism.
The biggest heronry in Britain is currently at Northward Hill in Kent, an RSPB reserve. Numbers here have peaked at over 200 nests, but the current total is around 150.