ONE of Wyre Forest district's most impressive birds has to be the grey heron.

When standing, this bird has a stature of nearly a metre and when in flight its wing span is nearly two metres which quite easily dwarfs our district's biggest bird of prey, the buzzard.

In fact, the only bird that is likely to be encountered in Wyre Forest larger than the heron is the mute swan, which is a massive one and a half metres tall and has a mighty 2.5m wing span.

I have encountered herons both hunting and in flight throughout the day on many of the district wetland nature reserves and even on a few smaller garden pools.

However, there are times and places when encountering this magnificent bird can be almost magical. For me, that time of day has to be the period just before sunrise.

The clouds low on the eastern horizon shimmer with a golden light. The sky above my head is deep blue with just the odd speck of light as the brightest stars and the light from the odd planet shines through.

There is heavy dew that sparkles in the pre-dawn light and a low mist over the landscape. The silhouettes of trees can be seen punching up through the early morning fog with their long shadows looking like great tears in the landscape. It would seem to me that only a landscape like this could provide the regal setting fit for such a majestic bird as the heron.

The heron's pale grey plumage makes it hard to see in the early morning light up against the tall wetland grasses. But the splash of colour from the heron's dagger-like bill is usually first to catch your eye.

The heron will usually stand motionless making you question yourself as to whether or not it is a model. This is not just to make it hard for you to spot but also to make it appear to be part of the background from the viewpoint of its prospective prey, which can include a diversity of creatures such as amphibians, reptiles, birds and small mammals but preferably fish.

I have to admit the heron has much more patience than I and I have never seen one strike at a prospective meal. Usually after a few minutes of watching this bird in awe I have always been greedy and tried to sneak a little closer to get a better look.

Herons are quite timid birds and take offence if you get anywhere too near and in a sudden flash of movement they spread their long broad wings and thrust themselves into the air with aid of their long legs.

A few slow yet powerful beats of their wings later, they are soaring in an upward spiral over head with their legs trailing behind.

With enough height gained they swoop away with seemingly effortless ease and fly themselves off to a new fishing spot.