June 4th – The disappointments of the day were compensated for handsomely by the herons on the canal. Even the darkest bits of the industrial Black Country – and I hit the Tame Valley Canal, which has some very grim bits indeed – was host to these fine fishers. Oddly twitchy, it was difficult to get any pictures, but this fine fellow obliged in Rushall. Death on two legs to it’s hapless prey, I must have seen ten or more of these dishevelled, rickety looking birds. Also prolific were the common terns, whose missile-like fishing skills have to be seen to be believed.