'The Air-Invested Heron'

 

"Like the air-invested heron, great persons should conduct themselves; and the higher they be, the less they should show."
Philip Sidney

Today I spotted this magnificent heron, waiting patiently upon his platform on the Ulverston Canal, before stabbing his latest victim. My picture doesn't do him justice. Click here for a better one and to read some heron facts. The bird is also known as a 'shitepoke'! Click here to read about heron folklore. 

My walk alongside the canal from Ulverston to The Bay Horse at Canal Foot, on the edge of Morecambe Bay, was an interesting one. The pub was formerly a 17th Century Coaching Inn where, in days gone by, travellers would rest before making the treacherous journey by horse drawn coach across the sands to Lancaster. "For nearly 200 years travellers have risked their lives (and many have lost them) crossing between Lancaster and the Furness Penisula."

The canal, which was covered in yellow water lilies, was home today to moorhens, swallows and swans, some with young cygnets. More 'babies' could be spotted at the coast: a flock of Eider chicks with their mothers and a very noisy and insistent young blackbird being fed by its harassed parents. 

The canal itself has an interesting history and is reputed to be the deepest, widest and straightest in the UK. Click here to find out more. 

Writing prompts:

• Write about a time when, like the heron, you have had to exercise great patience. 
• As we approach the next general election, think about the quote above from Sir Philip Sydney. Do you agree with him about how 'great persons' should conduct themselves? 
• Write about a canal that you know.