online: 1 october 2010 modified: 1 october 2010 23 september 2010 a heron eats
vale of health pond
...yesterday i watched a heron in Belgium and today i'm watching one here.... a noisy helicopter flies over but the heron continues fishing... and occasionally flapping it's wings... the water surface is almost still...
...grey clouds move quite rapidly from the west and it has been raining most of the day... everything is watery and damp... the heron advances a step or two in the water and looks upward as well as downward before suddenly snatching a small fish... and then several more... it appears not to be afraid of any predator so i guess it's at the top of a food chain.... my grand parents used to have a heron in a glass case in the kitchen (on a shelf above the roll-top desk on which my grandfather did the office work of his carpentry and building business)...
...the heron has flown a few metres and is attempting to stand on a floating circle of water-lilies... a magpie walks about 5 metres from where i'm sitting... and now it flies away... inexplicably... for i do not know what it perceives and what it responds to...
...the heron is still standing on the floating water-lily foliage.... and seems not to be finding anything to eat there... now it's walking very slowly on the leaves as if it knows of something eatable by herons... and suddenly it flaps it's wings to support itself while pecking downwards at something...
...the pond is even stiller than it was, the clouds are less grey and partly sunlit... and the heron is patiently looking and looking at both water-lily island and at the surrounding trees... and now it's looking towards me but I doubt if it sees this still figure on a seat that moves only one or two fingers... while writing about the heron... (and i doubt if it knows it is a heron, or a water-bird, or that it inhabits the world as we see it)... small fish are breaking the water surface quite close to the water-lilies... i wonder if the heron will attempt to catch one?...
...and now a large bird (which could be another heron) circles the pond several times before flying off over the trees... the heron on the water-lilies seemed not to react to its presence... and now it's stopped fishing and has flown, mostly gliding, across to the far side of the pond and i can barely see what it's doing... so i get up and go...
...walking round the pond i reach the shallow water where the heron is now standing very still with its beak pointing upwards... and then it flies slowly to several lily-growths until it finds one that will support its weight... and a week later i'm editing this before putting it online... and where are we in the universe... or are we inventing it?
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