Last Sunday I took my family off to Pickering beck to find a heronry I'd heard of close to a public footpath. Sadly, we never found it and after a few hours of spotting nothing but squirrel dreys, six-month-old Lily was cold and tired so we turned homeward.
I did notice, just at the spot I had been told to look, that the forest had been replanted - I hope this heronry hasn't been cut down! If so it would a great shame. A heronry really is worth seeing - it's like something out of Jurassic Park. The four foot wide nests can number up to 200, each weighing in at about four or five stone, and there are around 13,000 along Britain's waterways.
