The morning these pictures were taken, there were six herons on one of the the islands in West Park. There was the pair which had nested in the park and their young chick. There were the two birds which feature in this series of pictures – a mature heron high in the branches of a conifer, and a juvenile on the ground in the shelter of the tree. There was also a third bird deeper in the cover of the same tree, only visible in brief glimpses.
The mature bird high in the tree was standing with its mouth always open, the tongue clearly visible.