Heron Issues Statement Regarding the Six Hours

A grey heron at the west end of the mill pond has responded to what it called persistent mischaracterisation by walkers, joggers and at least one organised birdwatching group, following six hours of continuous standing on Tuesday.

At no point was I doing nothing, the heron said. Herons hunt by waiting. The fish arrives on the fish's schedule and not on yours, and the interval between those two schedules is not idleness, it is the job. The bird confirmed that it had shifted position twice during the morning, and that both shifts were deliberate.

One jogger, who passed the pond four times, reported no detectable change in the heron's position on any circuit and described the effect as unsettling. The heron noted that the jogger had covered a considerable distance over the same period and had also not caught a fish.

Asked how many fish the six hours had ultimately produced, the heron declined to give a figure. Observers put it at one, taken at twenty to three, in an operation lasting slightly under four seconds. The six hours, the bird added, were for that. It then resumed standing, and was still there at dusk.