Country diary: A heron has come a-hunting

Hitchin, Hertfordshire: Once abundant here, grey herons are now outnumbered by their egret cousins. This one has come to usHenry VIII lost his footing in the wetlands around Hitchin in 1525, so the story goes, and plunged face-first into the fen. He was rescued by his footman, Edmond Mody, whose quick reactions saved the monarch from an undignified fate. I can see why Henry might have escaped the tumultuous world of the court to visit this placid backwater, with its reedbeds, rush meadows and chalk streams. But the king wasn't here for peace and seclusion - he was indulging his passion for hunting.Fourteenth-century manor records show a flourishing heronry at Purwell Ninesprings, just east of Hitchin. In 1373, 41 "branchers", or young birds, were sent from Purwell to London, perhaps to sate the medieval appetite for heron roasted with ginger, mustard and vinegar. Grey herons were hunted there with hawks, and it was while leaping a ditch in pursuit of his quarry that Henry tripped and pitched into the water. Continue reading...