Heron chicks on the reserve

Tricky to see unless you know where you are looking, but the above photo shows off a proud mother and father heron with there only few day old chicks... you can just make out one of the chicks in the middle of the nest next to the mothers beak.

Herons have once again produce many clutches of eggs this year and they are all beginning to hatch. Our herons have been daily visitors to the centre for many years, and decided to roost here a few years ago when our Nature Reserve was finally finished. Since then we have seen them successfully rear chicks for the last 3 years!

Not all the chicks are recent hatchies though, the above nest has about 3 young chicks of a few weeks old, if you look closely enough you can see 2 heads poking up. And below, mum coming in to check up on them...

Of course once she knows they are alright she offers up some food.

Also on the reserve, one of our resident ducks hatched out her first few ducklings this morning.

So be sure to have a wander around our Wetlands Boardwalk next time you are here to see what "wild" wildlife we have breeding on site.