The Heronry At Didlington Park

The Heronry at Didlington Park, Norfolk, 1868. 'Those fine old birds...are the last of their tribe now left to breed in the British islands. They are still reckoned as game, but protection in that character has long ceased to be afforded them. There is a fine heronry at Didlington Park, belonging to Mr. Tyssen Amhurst; where the artist, Mr. S. Carter, had an opportunity of ascending the trees. Upon emerging from the...thick matted foliage of the Scotch fir tops, he was astonished by the novel scene which there presented itself. The old herons, alarmed at his intrusion, sailed to and fro anxiously overhead, while the young birds, which had been making a hissing and chattering noise, not unlike that of magpies, suddenly collapsed into silence, and peered cautiously from their nests. These are built of sticks and lined comfortably with moss. Many of the nests had been forsaken by the herons and were already in the possession of other lodgers. These were ringdoves, jackdaws, starlings, and sparrows, and in one nest was a family of wood-owls. Our artist saw also the spotted and green woodpecker, the wryneck, or cuckoo's mate, and a merry squirrel, which had evidently a predilection for eggs, but was kept under the surveillance of a jackdaw'. From "Illustrated London News", 1868. Creator: Unknown. (Photo by The Print Collector/Heritage Images via Getty Images)